TUE BANANA. 



601 



pines in cultivation ; although it is neither rich nor highly-flavoured. The 

 crowns are often cock's- comb like. 



The White Providence. May be grown to a large size, and the shape is 

 very handsome, but the flavour inferior. 



The Trinidad., syn. Pitch Lake Pine. Said to be grown in the island of 

 Trinidad to the weight of 26 lbs. In England it has been grown to the weight 

 of 5 lbs. or 6 lbs., and of that size the flavour is good. 



1330. Culture. This is given at length in Sect. I., p. 443, and we shall here 

 give a general summary. Plant in turfy, rich, but not adhesive loam, well 

 enriched with rotten stable dung or old night soil ; plunge the pots in tan or 

 leaves, or some other medium that will produce, or at least retain heat. At no 

 period, either of winter or summer, allow the temperature of the air of the 

 house to fall lower than 70°, but in summer let it rise for the Queen varieties 

 as high as 80° or 85°, and for the other sorts as high as 90° or 100° ; the 

 bottom heat should never be under 70°, and it may rise as high as 90° when 

 the atmosphere is at or above that temperature ; in summer give air early 

 in the morning, and shut up at three in the afternoon with a high temper- 

 ature, syringing the plants overhead ; grow the Queen pines by themselves ; 

 the Black pines by themselves, as they require a higher temperature ; and 

 the large pines also by themselves, as they require larger pots and more room 

 than the other kinds. Treated in this manner pines will seldom be infested 

 with insects ; but if they should, the remedies have been already given (953). 

 To cause a pine to show fruit give it a check by withholding water for a con- 

 siderable time, till the leaves have become quite lax and almost flagging, and 

 then supply w^ater and heat liberally. 



SuBSECT. II. — The Banana. 



1331. The Banana^ Musa sapientum, L. (Bananier, Fr.j and Pisang, 

 G'er.), is a scitamineous plant, the natural history and culture of which has 

 been already given, p. 512. Every plant throws up a single flower-stem, 

 which flowers and fruits ; after which the plant dies, and is succeeded by a 

 sucker. The fruit of none of the varieties contains seed, and hence these 

 suckers are the only means of propagation. There are several species or 

 varieties, but those best worth cultivating in Britain are the M. s. Cavendishii, 

 syn., M. s. chinensis, and the M. s. dacca, both already noticed, and the M. s. 

 St. Helenensis, to be afterwards described. Several other kinds have been 

 fruited in the Edinburgh Botanic garden, and in the stove of Sir George 

 Thomas Staunton, at Leigh Park, Hampshire, but the above three sorts are 

 best worth cultivating for their fruit. (See J. M'Nab and R. Carter, in 

 G. M. 1842.) 



Musa sapientum^ var. St. Helenensis, the St. Helena Banana, grows to 

 the height of fourteen feet. The usual weight of each bunch of fruit is from 

 60 lbs. to 80 lbs., being double the weight of the bunches produced by any 

 of the other varieties that have fruited in Scotland. It was introduced from 

 St. Helena to the Edinburgh Botanic Garden in 1830.— (J. M'Nab, in G. 

 M., 1842.) 



M. s. var. ddcca, the dacca Banana, is considered by Mr. M'Nab as 

 next in value to the St. Helena variety. Its average height of stem, in the 

 Edinburgh Botanic Garden, is seven feet, producing clusters from 10 lbs. to 

 20 lbs. weight. The fruit is smaller and drier than that of the St. Helena 

 Banana, but perhaps rather higher flavoured. At Leigh Park, this variety, 



