284 
Supplement to th? " Tropical Agriculturist." [Oct. 1, 1394. 
In the Bulletin before us 20 pages nre taken 
up by descriptions of the varieties of bananas 
and plantains that are found in different coun- 
tries, but we have not time nor space for so 
formidable an enumeration, nor would it serve 
the purpose we have in view. What we desire, 
in the interest of Ceylon and its people is to 
direct attention to several important purposes 
to which the fruit has not yet been applied here, 
and to the great extension of which its present 
known uses might, with great advantage, be 
applied. Ceylon is not over abundantly supplied 
with either quantity or variety of food ; and it 
may safely be said that, both as an additional 
supply, and as an agreeable variety of wholesome 
food, the bananas and plantains offer the greatest 
scope. In this connection it may be remarked 
that both the growing plant, and the mature 
fruit, are singularly free from attacks of either 
insect or fungoid pest. We cannot remember 
during our sojourn of nearly half a century 
in the Island, that we ever saw any kind of 
insect in the fruit, nor have we ever noticed 
the plant subject to such attack. In the Bulletin 
before us, we find it remarked that " Taking 
into account the immense areas over which these 
plants have been cultivated, and the lengthened 
period during which they ' hme t been subject to the 
control of ma n, it is remarkable that no churunic 
disease has manifested itself among them e.n-cj't 
in one or two localities" 
Of the economic uses of the fruit to which we 
would first direct the attention of ourtfeodera h - 
cause it is the one to which the least attention has 
as yet been given in Ceylon, is its whdestMneness 
in the sense of being curative, or medicinal. 
Mr. H. M. Stanley, in the narrative of his 
journey through darkest Africa, says : — 
When between the Albert Edward Nyanza and 
the Albert Nyanza (Vol. ii., pp. 239-240:— " For 
the first time we discovered that the Awamba, 
whose territory we were now in, understood the 
art of drying bananas over wooden gratings, for 
the purpose of making flour. We had often 
wondered, during our life in the forest region, 
that the natives did not appear to have discovered 
what invaluable, nourishing, and easily digestible 
food they possessed in the plantain and banana. 
All banana lands — Cuba, Brazil, West Indies — 
seem to me to have been specially remiss on this 
point. If only the virtues of the flour were 
publicly known it is not to be doubted but it 
would be largely consumed in Europe. For 
infants, persons of delicate digestion, dyspeptics, 
and those suffering from temporary derange- 
ments of the stomach, the flour, properly pre- 
pared, would be of universal demand. During 
my two attacks of gas iritis, a light gruel of this, 
mixed with milk, was the only matter that 
could be digested." 
There is probably no moi'e obstinate disorder 
than that of chronic gastritis, yet, during two 
attacks to which Mr. Stanley alludes, on that 
most trying journey, lie found in gruel of plan- 
tain meal and milk a cure. He naturally recom- 
mends it for infants, persons of delicate digestion, 
dyspeptics, and those suffering from temporary 
derangements of the stomach, and he says that 
if the virtues of the flour were publicly known, 
it is not to be doubted but it would be largely 
consumed in Europe. 
Similar testimony is to be found in other 
countries. In the Malay Archipelago " man 
begins with plantains," as the meal, Kuuiph says, 
u is used for making pap for new-bom infants." 
Dr. Shier reporting on the food products of 
British Guiana, says the flour of pluntains is 
largely employed as the food of infants and 
invalids." Again in the public hospital in 
Kingston, Jamaica, the use of plantain meal, 
us distinct from banana meal, is reported as 
lollows : — 
"Some years ago plantain ineul — as distinct 
from banana meal — was in use at the public 
hospital in Kingston, and was considered a 
wholesome and nutritious food. It formed an 
excellent diet for patient! suffering from diar- 
rhoea, dysentery, and allied ailments. This is 
confirmed by experience in India. ' Fl iur made 
out of green plantain dried in the sun is used 
in the form of chappatis (unleavened cakes j in 
certain parts of Tirhoot in cases cf dyspepsia 
with troublesome flatulence and acidity. 1 have 
known,' says a medical officer, ' one case in 
whice it agreed remarkably well whenever a diet 
of plainsago and water brought on a severe attack 
of colic. The chaji/iatis are taken dry with a 
little salt.' There is always present in plantain 
meal a certain small percentage of tannin." 
In the same extract we read that "in Tirhoot 
(India) flour made out of green plantains, dried 
in the sun, is used in the form of chappatis in 
cases of dyspepsia, with troublesome flatulence 
and acidity."' The fact that when even plain 
sago brought on a severe attack of colic, the 
chappate agreed remarkably well, shows it- extra- 
ordinary virtue. 
Such a variety of testimony leaves no doubt 
of the fact, that in Ceylon we possess, in the 
bananas and plantains, so abundant in supply, 
so cheap in price and so delicious in flavour, 
not only a most remarkably wholesome food, but 
a singularly effective cure for indigestion, and 
a specially suitable diet for infants and invalids. 
— Ceylon Independent. 
DAIRY ITKMS. 
Very much fat is lost in butter-milk in the 
process of churning, which, with greater care, 
might be saved ; and a study of this subject, 
recently made at the Iowa Experiment Station 
I in America, and published as a bulletin by the 
U.S.A. Agricultural Departmeut, suggests that 
this loss might be greatly minimised, if not 
entirely prevented, by testing the acidity of the 
cream. The work, so far as it has gone, shows 
that the acidity of the cream bears a decided 
relation to the loss of fat in churning, and that 
a test of this kind for acidity cannot but hi of 
considerable help to the butter-maker, even 
though he has had years of experience. The 
experiments are merely of a preliminary nature, 
and are being continued, so that they do not 
admit of drawing anything but general con- 
clusions. They showed, however, that until 
cream reached a certain acidity, loss of fat in 
butter-milk to a greater or less extent, took place. 
: The other two factors which have an influence 
| are the temperature of the cream and its amount 
j in the churn ; for when this latter is more than 
I half full, the results are not satisfactory. 
