CULTURE OF THE BANANA. 



513 



((?. j\r. 1838, p. 104.) The Musa s. dacca, and some other varieties, have 

 been fruited by 'Sir. M'Nab, in the stove of the Edinburgh Botanic Garden, 

 who, in December 1886, sent a large box of it to the Lord Mayor of London, 

 for the banquet given to the Queen at Guildhall.— (G. J/. 1838, p. 106.) 

 Some excellent varieties of banana have also been fruited in the gardens at 

 Syon ; and the Duke of Devonshire's variety, M. s. Cavendishii, is gro^vn 

 in abundance for the table of the King of the French, at Versailles and 

 Meudon. — (See G. il/. 1841, p. 887.) AH the varieties of banana are 

 propagated by suckers ; they are grown in large pots or tubs, eighteen inches 

 or two feet in diameter, in a mixture of leaf-mould, sand, and thoroughly 

 rotten dung, and watered with liquid manure. The same temperature that 

 suits the pine-apple will suit the banana. Suckers will fruit within the 

 year, and they may be retarded or accelerated so as to ripen their fruit at 

 almost every season. The following paragraph on this fruit was supplied 

 to the Gardener s Magazine^ in 1841, p. 430, by Mr. Paxton. 



1089. A Banana house, SO feet long, 15 feet wide, 12 feet high at the back 

 and six feet high at the front, heated by flues or by hot water, will hold 

 about ten full-grown or fruiting plants^ with room between for different-sized 

 successional ones, to be tubbed successively as the large plants ripen off their 

 fruit, these being shaken out of their tubs as soon as the fruit is gathered, and 

 potted, to produce suckers ; by judicious management in tubbing and in 

 administering water, a supply of fruit may be had the greater part of the 

 year. I have had at one time ten fruiting plants nearly of the same size and 

 age, being suckers produced the same spring, and receiving similar treat- 

 ment; yet no two of them produced their spadix at the same time ; and even 

 if they were disposed to do so, it may be prevented, different treatment being 

 given them. As their approach to fruiting is easily ascertained by their 

 leaves decreasing in size, soon after which the embryo fruit-stalk may be 

 detected by the sudden swelling of the lower part of the stem, if more than 

 one should show these indications at one time, the one it is desired to fruit 

 first must hare abundance of water and the wai-mest situation, and the others 

 be retarded by opposite treatment. The period between them may be still 

 further lengthened a considerable time, if the whole spadix of fruit of one 

 approaching too close upon another in ripening be cut off with a portion of 

 the stem attached, when the upper tier of fruit is just ripening, and suspended 

 in a dry and airy room, iu the way that late grapes are often kept. I have 

 cut excellent fruit from a spadix, two months after it had been separated 

 from the plant ; and they may be made to ripen fast or slow in this manner, 

 according to the temperature to which they are exposed. The quicker the 

 flower- stem is made to develop itself, the longer the spadix will be, and the 

 greater quantity of fertile flowers it will produce ; consequently the greater 

 weight of fruit, which will vary from fifteen to thirty pounds, according 

 to the plant's strength, the season, and other circumstances. I need hardly 

 add that the soil can scarcely be too rich, and that it should be rather light 

 than retentive, in order that abundance of water may be given, and readily 

 pass off. In Paxton s Magazine of Botany for 183G, it is observed that 

 "a pit 40 feet long, 15 feet broad, and 5 feet high, will produce several hun- 

 dredweight of fruit in a year, with no other care or attention than that of 

 giving plenty of manure to grow in, and a good supply of heat and water. 

 The Banana will fruit at all seasons, and no doubt with easier culture thau 

 any kind of fruit grown under glass." — {Ibid. 1836, p. 316.) 



