57 



Powell, H. A. Cunha, J. Fisher, 0. Feurtado, T. Kemp, Dr. Duerden & 

 Capt. Baker. 



Unfortunately the rains had blocked the railway and prevented the 

 planters from the north-side attending. 



His Excellenoy stated that one of the primary objects of the meet- 

 ing was to introduce Mr. Cousins, the Chemist, to the agriculturists of 

 the Colony. He thought that they were very fortunate in obtaining 

 the services of Mr. Cousins, whose exceptional ability had been testified 

 to on all hands in the most flattering manner. Dr Morris had written 

 to him expressing his warm admiration of Mr. Cousin's attainments 

 and his conviction that he would take a high place amon» technical 

 officers of the West Indies and be of great service to Jamaica. 



His Excellency then asked the Director of Public Gardens to open 

 the discussion. 



Mr. Fawcett said that the main point with Banana planters was to 

 find out how to increase the bunch by a " hand." 



Flowers. — He showed drawings of flowering shoots of the common Ba- 

 nana, one, of the shoot taken out when it was halfway from the ground 

 to the top, the other when it was just at the top. In both it was clear 

 that the number of hands was already determined. In the lowest hand 

 the fruit portion of the flower is about two-thirds of the whole length 

 of the flower. This relative proportion is the same in all of the 7 or 

 8 of the lowest whorls of flowers, and so the bunch will be of 7 or 8 

 hands Then one or more occur with the fruit portion about one-half 

 the length of the whole flower, followed by all the others in which the 

 fruit portion is only one-third of the whole length. 



This shows that no cultivation and no manure at this stage will 

 affect the number of hands in the bunch, — the problem must be at- 

 tacked at an earlier period. 



In connection with the flowers comes the question of the possibility 

 of improving the fruit by cross-fertilising and raising seedlings. 



The difficulty is that the cultivated banana very rarely forms any 

 seed. If we can discover the conditions that favour the formation of 

 seed, it would then be possible to work by cross-fertilisation. 



All the flowers which eventually form hands are female only, the 

 anthers, or male elements being abortive ; the flower or flowers which 

 directly succeed these are both male and female, and all that follow are 

 functionally only male. 



Therefore fertilisation with pollen from another plant is alone possi- 

 ble, and that just at the time the flower shoot appears. 



Leaves. —The most striking features about the Banana plant is it * 

 rapid growth, its early maturity, and the enormous amount of food pro" 

 duced in a small area. 



This is accounted for when we find that almost the whole plant i« 

 composed of leaf-structure. The apparent stem is really made up of 

 parts of the leaves. 



The leaves receive substance from the air, and what is taken up from 

 ffche soil by the roots must also pass into the leaves to be formed into 

 material for the growth of the plant. When sufficient of this complex 

 material is stored up in the root-stock, the flowering shoot is gradually 

 formed, and at length bursts forth with the young bananas. 



