336 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[Nov.  r,  1892. 
across  the  frontiers  of  India  into  China.  Here  we 
find  tea  ooe  of  the  necessaries  of  life  in  the  strictest 
sense  of  the  word.  A Chinese  never  drinks  cold  water, 
which  he  abhors,  and  considers  unhealthy.  Tea  is  his 
favourite  beverage  from  morniDg  until  night  ; not 
what  we  oall  tea,  mixed  with  milk  and  sugar,  but  the 
essence  of  the  herb  itself  drawn  tut  iu  pure  water. 
Those  acquainted  with  the  habits  of  this  people  can 
scarcely  conceive  the  idea  of  th*-  Chinese  existing, 
were  they  deprived  of  the  tea-plant ; and  I am  sure 
that  the  extensive  use  of  this  beverage,  adds  much  to 
the  health  and  comfort  of  the  great  body  of  the  people. 
The  people  of  India  are  not  unlike  the  Chinese  in 
many  of  their  habits.  The  poor  of  both  countries  eat 
sparingly  of  animal  food,  and  rice  with  other  grains 
and  vegetables  form  the  staple  articles  on  which  they 
live;  this  being  the  case,  it  is  not  at  all  unlikely  the 
Indian  will  soon  acquire  a habit  whioh  is  eo  universal 
in  China.  But  in  order  to  enable  him  to  drink  tea, 
it  must  be  produced  at  a cheap  rate  ; he  cannot  afford 
to  pay  at  the  rate  of  four  or  six  shillings  a pound.  It 
must  be  furnished  to  him  at  four  pence  or  six  pence 
instead,  and  this  can  easily  be  done,  but  only  on  his 
own  hills.  If  thisis  accomplished,  and  I see  no  reason 
why  it  should  not  be,  a boon  will  have  been  conferred 
Upon  the  people  of  India  of  no  common  kind,  and 
one  which  an  elightened  and  liberal  Government 
may  well  be  proud  of  conferring  uponits  subjects. 
Here  we  must  olcse ; but,  at  a future  time,  we  may, 
perhaps  with  interest  to  our  readers,  quote  some  of 
the  graphic  descriptions,  of  soenery,  natural  pro- 
ductions; men  and  manners,  with  notices  of 
Buddhism  and  the  other  religions  and  antiquities 
of  China, wbifih  are  to  be  found  in  this  obarmiDg  book. 
PLANTAINS. 
The  following  extract  is  taken  from  the  last  report 
of  the  Botanical  Garden  at  Demerara:  — 
The  generally  accepted  opinion  of  botanists  is  that 
the  Banana  and  Plantain  are  but  forms  of  one 
species.  Yet,  from  an  economic  point  of  view,  the 
two  are  widely  separated,  for  in  regard  to  utility  as 
a food-product,  the  banana  cannot  be  compared  with 
the  plantain.  Without  explaining  all  the  differences, 
it  may  be  briefly  stated  that  while  the  banana  is  a 
pleasant,  agreeable  and  much-appreciated  fruit,  it  has 
judging  by  the  perference  of  the  people  of  torrid 
lands,  little  economic  value  as  a food-product ; the 
plantain,  on  the  other  hand,  is  regarded  as  in- 
trinsically one  of  the  best  natural  food-products  in 
the  world.  Yet  the  opinion  of  the  botanists  is  in  a 
way  supported  by  the  non-scientific  observer,  for  ex- 
cept in  rare  instances,  only  after  long  and  well- 
trained  field  experience  can  one  plant  be  distinguished 
from  the  other  when  not  in  flower  or  fruit.  When 
in  fruit,  however,  the  case  is  different.  There  is 
then  a character,  observable  at  sight,  which  re- 
quires to  be  pointed  out  for  the  veriest  novice  in  the 
subject  to  be  able  to  tell  which  is  which.  In  the 
banana,  after  the  fruit  has  set,  the  succeeding 
clusters  of  flowers,  often  a hundred  or  more  in  number, 
and  their  large  embracing  bracts,  drop  away,  leaving 
a clear,  absolutely  naked,  long  extended  and  still 
elongating  stem  or  axis,  hanging  tail-like  two  to 
three  feet  beyond  the  fruit,  with  the  firmly  com- 
pacted mass  of  unopened  bracts  and  flowers,  bud- 
like, at  the  end ; while  in  the  Plantain  the  stem 
ceases  to  extend  more  than  twelve  or  eighteen  inches 
beyond  the  fruit,  the  succeeding  clusters  of  flowers 
and  bracts  all  opening  to  the  very  end,  and  remain- 
ing persistent,  withered  and  dry — the  trash  as  it  is 
called  in  colonial  phraseology — permanently  attached 
to  the  stem.  In  the  Banana  the  axis  continues  to 
grow  as  long  as  the  fruit  hangs,  cluster  after  cluster 
of  flowers,  with  their  bracts,  opening  and  dropping 
away,  a mass,  like  an  enlarged  Nelumbium-bud,  still 
unopened,  remaining  at  the  far  extended  end  when 
the  bunch  is  cut;  while  in  the  Plaintain  the  growth 
of  the  axis  is  arrested  soon  after  the  fruit 
sets,  the  abortive  flowers  opening,  and  remaining 
attached,  from  end  to  end  of  the  stem.  A 
single  exception  to  the  rule  obtains  in  the 
ease  of  fhe  Dwatf  of  Chinese  Banana  (Musa 
Cavendishii),  in  which,  as  in  Plantains,  the  abortive 
flowers  and  their  bracts  are  constantly  persistent. 
The  texture  of  the  plantain  is  such  that  at  what- 
ever stage  it  is  used,  whether  green  or  ripe,  it  must 
be  cooked  to  make  it  palatable.  It  is  this  quality 
in  the  plantain  which  makes  the  great  economic 
difference  between  the  two  fruits.  Plantains  are 
chiefly  used  by  the  populace  while  still  green — t.e. 
cut  at  some  period  before  they  are  full  grown.  They 
are  cooked  either  by  boiling  or  roasting,  chiefly  the 
former.  To  successfully  peel  a green  plantain  with- 
out soiling  it,  the  operation  must  be  performed  with 
wet  hands  or  with  the  fruit  immersed  in  water.  The 
plantain  contains  a measure  of  tannic  acid,  and  conse- 
quently in  boiling  in  a metal  pot  has  a tendency  to 
turn  very  dark.  This  may,  however,  be  prevented 
by  boiling  a little  fat  with  the  fruit -say  a bit  of  fat 
pork.  Green  plantains  are  also  used  for  making 
soup.  For  this  purpose  they  are  boiled  and  then 
pounded  in  a mortar,  when  they  form  a homogeneous 
mass,  like  dough,  which  is  put  into  soup  and  eaten 
with  it.  In  the  mature,  but  still  green  stage,  plan- 
tains are  roasted  and  eaten  with  butter,  pepper  and 
salt,  and  in  some  cases  cheese.  In  this  state  they 
are  delicious.  The  plantain  parts  with  its  heat  very 
rapidly,  and  in  cooling  it  loses,  to  the  palate,  much 
of  its  best  taste.  It  is  spoiled  by  rewarming.  For 
this  reason  roast  plantains  are  usually  served  wrapped 
in  a table-napkin,  for,  to  be  enjoyed  at  all,  they 
must  be  eaten  before  they  cool.  When  ripe — that  is, 
when  the  skin  has  turned  yellow— a fruity  character 
is  assumed,  and  then  they  are  used  either  baked 
whole  in  an  oven,  or  cut  in  slices  and  fried.  Baked 
ripe  plantain  has  much  the  taste  of  baked  apple, 
but  with  a distinctive  flavor,  and  a much  more  tena- 
cious nature.  Lastly,  gathered  green,  dried  and  ground 
or  pounded,  an  excellent  meal  or  flour  is  produced, 
which  makes  delicious  custards,  puddings;  gruel,  etc., 
and  is  highly  palatable  and  nutritious. 
Plantains  being  the  staple  food  of  the  Creole  popu- 
lation, Plaintain  cultivation  is  a firmly  established 
industry.  Three  or  four  varieties  are  grown,  one  or 
two  of  which,  however  only  on  a very  small  scale. 
Two  color-varieties,  presenting  hardly  any  distinc- 
tion in  the  character  of  the  fruit,  but  with  the  stems 
and  stalks  of  the  leaves  blackish  in  one  and  green 
in  the  other,  are  most  generally  grown,  and  form 
the  bulk  of  the  cultivation.  They  pass  under  the 
names  of  the  Black  and  White,  Common  or  Cow, 
and  sometimes  Maiden  Plantain.  The  others  are 
the  Giant,  or  Horse,  and  the  Barooma,  both  very 
large-fruited  kinds,  the  latter  of  which  is  not  much 
grown.  Plantains  give  a heavier  yield  than  Bananas 
from  the  same  land.  They  delight  in  the  stiff,  newly 
empoldered  clay  lands  of  this  colony,  not  objecting 
to  the  slightly  saline  element  found  where  the  sea  or 
river  ha9  invaded  the  place  periodically  at  spring- 
tides  while  it  was  lying  fallow  under  the  natural  bush- 
growth.  Such  lands  yield  heavily,  but  the  crop  is 
liable  to  suffer,  if  the  seasons  for  the  first  two 
years  after  planting  provp  very  wet,  from  the  Plantain- 
disease  of  the  colony.  On  dry  land  it  does  not  do 
much  damage.  Introduced  to  such  land  it  soon  dis- 
appears again.  The  disease  which  effects  Coconut- 
trees,  from  which  many  are  from  time  to  time  lost  in- 
ill-drained  situations,  appears  to  be  identically  the 
same.  In  both  cases  it  takes  the  form  of  internal 
decay,  the  substance  turning  to  a sodden,  offensively 
scented,  putrid  mass.  The  plantains  produced  by 
diseased  trees  are  black  inside,  but  not  soft  like  the 
interior  of  the  stems  and  root- stocks  of  the  plants. 
They  are,  of  course,  quite  unfit  for  food.  Its  nature 
has  not  yet  been  determined,  though  it  has  been 
observed  closely  in  the  fields,  and  samples  of  the 
affected  parts  have  been  examined  by  distinguished 
mycologists  to  ascertain  whether  or  not  it  be  of 
fungoid  origin.  The  aboriginal  Indian  inhabitants  of 
the  interior  do  -not,  as  a rule,  cultivate  this  fruit, 
though  they  grow  here  and  there  in  their  cassava 
fields  pineapples  and  a few  bananas. — Garden  and 
Forest. 
[Is  the  distinction  above  made  between  plantaina 
and  bananas  understood  in  Ceylon  ? Our  idea  has 
been  that  the  fruits  we  oall  plantains  are  replly 
bananas,— Ec.  X\A.j 
