138 Notices of Communications to the Society, of which 



of the Banana Tree (Musa sapientium) to the Meeting. They 

 were of considerable size, between four and five inches long, 

 and possessed an agreeable, luscious, and acid flavour. The 

 produce from a single plant in a stove, is sufficiently abun- 

 dant to entitle the Banana, when properly managed, to be 

 considered as an useful fruit for the table. Mr. Dawson's 

 account of his treatment of it is as follows : " About eight 

 years ago, I turned the plant out of a pot into the earth in 

 the pit of the stove ; it was then about six feet high, with a 

 single stem. In each succeeding year it has produced a 

 bunch of fruit; but in the present, having attained greater 

 strength, it yielded two bunches ; the first was ripe in May, 

 and the other in August, having about four dozen fruits on 

 each bunch. The plant this season was sixteen feet high, 

 and measures three feet round at the bottom." 



Septembbr 7th, 1819- A letter was read to the Meeting 

 this day, addressed to the Secretary, by Mr. John West, 

 Corresponding Member of the Society, gardener to the 

 Marquis of Northampton, at Castle Ashby, detailing his 

 Mode of growing Onions of a large size, for use early in the 

 season, which he has practised successfully for some years. 

 About the end of January he plants in rows, at nine inches 

 apart, the small bulbs of Onions grown in the preceding 

 year; these grow to a large size, and are ripe full two 

 months sooner than Onions grown in the usual methods, and 

 at a season when none others, except the Potatoe Onions, 

 are fit for use. The bulbs selected for this planting should 

 be the smallest which can be picked out ; if large, they are 

 apt to run to seed. They should be planted with a dibble, 



