Plantain Cultivation. 
65 
Landing House and other spaces, Crane etc. 
Bridges, Sluices etc 
Live Stock 
Labourers’ Dwellings 
Residence and Office 
Hospital for Sick Labourers 
Cooperage and Timber Yards, Store Rooms etc. 
1,600 
2,660 
1.500 
24,000 
5.000 
1.000 
2.500 
Total $199,520 
And yet at the present time the owner would hardly get $40,000 for 
it. 
227. A cane-field swaying backwards and forwards in the light sea- 
breeze, undoubtedly constitutes one of the most pleasing of landscapes, 
becoming even more delightful and imposing however to the observer’s 
gaze when enclosed in beautiful fields of plantain with their huge sap- 
green leaves. The plantain (Musa paradisiaca) which before Emanci- 
pation was the chief ingredient of the slaves’ dietary, is cultivated upon 
almost every estate. The same role that the potato plays in the national 
economy of Europe is taken by the plantain in the West Indies. If 
bananas are eaten only when ripe, plantains are chewed when already 
half-grown, enjoyed in all stages, and prepared in the most, different 
ways. Taken out of the skin half-ripe, roasted on the ashes and then 
eaten with butter, they take the place of bread at breakfast: in a half 
matured condition boiled with spice and meat, they form a very tasty 
vegetable: dried and pounded they afford a splendid flour for puddings. 
When quite ripe, as shewn by tlieir yellow colour, they are used as veg- 
etables as well as eaten raw, but in the latter case are no good for the 
European on account of their easily giving him dysentery. 
228. Plantains are also propagated by suckers because as with the 
sugar-cane, the seed does not arrive at complete germination. Within 
ten or eleven months, the young sucker already bears fruit, of 
which individual bunches frequently weigh from 60 to 70 pounds, and I 
have been informed of a number of cases where one acre has yielded 
30,000 lbs. of plantains. As every stalk only bears once, this is cut 
down at the same time as the crop, so that the whole of the sap in the 
root-stock may supply the young suckers of which from three to four are 
229. The cultivation of the plantain requires but little care. The 
weeding of the field once or twice, and the cutting down of the trunk 
with its ripe fruit is all the work required. The Banana (Musa sap- 
ientum) is less frequently cultivated and generally eaten only when 
ripe: it also requires from 9 to 10 months to ripen, but then easily be- 
comes rotten unless the individual fruit is cut off and dried in the sun 
or oven. The stem of the banana is shorter and more compact than that 
of the plantain, just as the fruit also at maturity can be distinguished 
from that of the latter by its brownish red colouring and more compact 
growth. Amongst other varieties there is distinguished above all others 
in virtue of tlieir vigorous growth the Musa Cavendisliii Paxton and M. 
chinensis Sweet, a dwarfed variety. 
left 
