80 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
BANANA TREE— (Musa Cavendtshii.) 
An accurate representation of a Tree now growing in an American Green-House. 
We present to the readers of the Agriculturist an 
accurate engraving of a Banana Tree, the first we 
have seen actually fruited in this country—and 
we have heard of but one other. The one here 
shown stands in the Green-House of Messrs. Par¬ 
sons &. Co., of Flushing. The hight of the main 
stem to the base of the leaves is 4 feet; the 
diameter of the stalk is 7 inches; length of the 
.argest leaves, 4£ feet. The general color of 
the stalk is light purple—that of the leaves, 
dark green. 
The manner of the growth of the fruit is pecu¬ 
liar and interesting. Most persons have seen 
bananas as they come to this country for sale. 
The clusters are sometimes very large—often 
three or more feet in length, and as heavy as a 
man can conveniently carry. A bunch has been 
grown in France, upon the variety Musa Caven- 
dishii, which would not go into a flour-barrel. 
Each plant bears but one bunch of fruit. From 
the base of the leaf stalks, or head of the main 
stem, at a, a single purple flower bud starts up, 
gnd throws off from its surface successive 
circles of bracts or floral leaves, ( b ). Under 
pach of these leaves appears a circle of small 
towers, which develop into fruit. The mam bud 
pushes out fa- ther, throwing off, from time to 
time, new leaves and new circles of fruit. The 
increasing weight bends the fruit stem over in a 
curve. In thrifty growing plants of this variety, 
the cluster of fruit is extended nearly, or quite 
to the ground. 
GENERAL NOTES ON BANANAS. 
The bananas or plantains are natives of the East 
and West Indies, Cape of Good Hope, and other 
tropical regions, where they are very valuable, 
both for the abundance of nutritive and delicious 
food afforded by their fruit, and for the many do¬ 
mestic purposes to which the gigantic leaves of 
some species are applied. The leaves are used for 
thatching the roofs of Indian cottages, and as ma¬ 
terial for basket-making ; and one species “ Musa 
textiles,''' yields an excellent flax, from which 
some of the finest muslins of India are prepared. 
The tall stems of the bananas are formed of 
the united petioles, or stems of the leaves, and 
are remarkable for the great quantity of spiral 
vessels they contain. The banana is propagated 
by removing and transplanting the suckers which 
are constantly springing up from the roots of old 
plants 
In their native locations they are very produc¬ 
tive—yielding enormously in favorable situations. 
A patch of thirty to forty plants has been knows 
to produce as much as four thousand pounds of 
nutritive substance in a year. The fruit arrives 
at maturity in about nine months from the ap¬ 
pearance of the bud or sucker above the surface of 
the ground; and as these buds are produced rapid¬ 
ly at the base of the old stem, or stool, a succes¬ 
sion of fruit-bearing plants is kept up throughout 
the season. They do not, however, so readily 
produce fruit under artificial cultivation. With a 
green-house temperature, it requires about three 
years from the bud, but in stove or hot-house heat, 
they will fruit in about eighteen months in our cli¬ 
mate. They grow and fruit best in a strong loam, 
enriched with very rotten manure and vegetable 
matter. 
Most of the fruit-bearing species require a large 
space, as they grow to the hight of fourteen to 
eighteen feet, which renders their cultivation im¬ 
practicable in ordinary-sized green or hot-houses 
Happily, the species represented by our engraving, 
Musa Cavendishii, obviates this difficulty. Being 
very dwarf in habit, it rarely, with the best culti¬ 
vation, attains the hight of six feet This is also 
one of the most productive species known. It is 
a native of the East Indies, and this, with “ Musa 
dacca," also from India, and very dwarf, are the 
two best species for cultivation for the fruit in 
our climate. 
The fruit from the West India Islands which 
is imported in such quantities into our markets, 
is produced by “Musa sapientum" and “ Musa 
parudasiaca." These can only be cultivated with 
success in very lofty houses, and they require 
also to be planted in a border or pit. 
There are several species which produce very 
splendid bloom, among the most showy of which 
is the old “ Musa Coccvica," with bright crimson 
and scarlet flowers ; these are all very dwarf, not 
growing more than two or three feet high, and 
their fruit is worthless. . 
Current Holes from American Green anti 
Hot Houses. 
NEW GREEN HOUSE PLANTS. 
indigofera decora, 
A dwarf Green-House shrub, of great beauty, 
recently introduced from China. It resembles 
very much the “ Indigofera tinclorm"' which is the 
Indigo of commerce, but does not grow quite so 
large. The flowers are large, pea shaped, pro¬ 
duced in large spikes, on the young shoots, and 
are of a delicate peach color. The leaves are 
large, pinnate, and glossy. ’It is a deciduous 
plant, has large tuberous roots, an-d will probably 
be hardy south of Washington. It requires a 
light and sandy soil to bloom well. It is a 
suitable plant for a small vase. 
viburnum suspensum. 
This is a new species of the “Laurustinus," a 
native of northern Asia. It is a medium sized 
shrub, with large glos>y foliage, erect habit o/ 
growth, and flowers of a light rosy pink color 
It produces flowers in midwinter, and though net 
very brilliant, they are in such profusion as to 
make it a most desirable plant and well worthy of 
cultivation in the Green-House. For the South, 
it will be a very valuable acquisition, being ever¬ 
green, and better adapted to endure the extreme 
heat and dryness of the climate than the common 
Laurustinus. It is a thrifty grower under pot 
culture, and should be planted in a rather strong 
loam. 
viburnum japomeum. 
Another new species of the Laurustinus family. 
Leaves bright, glossy, very thick and fleshy, and 
