18 
THE FLORIST AND POIvIOLOGIST. 
[ January, 
liot-air chambers, plunged in tan. For the Bananas I selected tlie end of 
one of tlie houses next to the glass partition, and there made preparation 
for their reception. Two boxes were made of inch-thick elm board, and 
calculated to hold a cubic yard of good sandy loam, including the drainage, 
which occupied 9 inches of the bottom of the tub. These were let down into 
the hot-air chamber until their surface was level with the general bed of tan. 
In these well-drained tubs of rich earth the plants were inserted, and 
soon gave evidence of the benefit of the heat supplied by the hot-air 
chamber. Whilst growing quickly they were liberally supplied with 
manure water—made sometimes from guano, and sometimes from cov r dung. 
Planted in these tubs in September, they grew rapidly during winter, when 
about February one plant show r ed symptoms of fruiting, and the other six 
weeks later. These clusters of fruit ripened, the one in July and the other 
in September. Ripening gradually as they do, I had almost a continuance 
of ripe fruit daily for a period of four months. On first presenting them at 
table, owing to their excessive richness, some liked them, whilst others did 
not; but soon the taste got acquired, and then the Bananas, as long as they 
lasted, maintained their position at the dessert table undisputed by any 
other fruit. These clusters of fruit weighed respectively 80 and 40 lb.; 
on the larger cluster there were eighty, each individual fruit weighing about 
half a pound. Towards the end of the spadix there are always some blind 
fruits, which never mature; these I cut a\vay as soon as discernible. 
During the time these plants were in fruit, a gentleman from Travan- 
core, a province of Southern India, visited the gardens, and assured me 
that I had succeeded remarkably well in their culture. Amongst other 
hints he gave me respecting their treatment was the following—that wdiilst 
the fruiting plant was growing, and up to the moment of showing fruit, all 
suckers should be cut off; but directly the fruit shows, one of the frequently 
cut-down suckers should be selected and allowed to grow, and, according to 
my Indian visitor’s account, the oftener the suckers are cut down, the 
stronger and the darker-foliaged will they afterwards become, as well as 
the more likely to throw a fine cluster. This, I feel inclined to believe, 
has its modicum of truth; for, from my own observation, a sucker which 
had been frequently cut back, grew amazingly fast, immediately it was 
allowed to go on, and by September last it thickened and shot forth a fine 
cluster enveloped in its spathe, the fruit of which is now in a fair way of 
swelling off. This cluster consists of seventy fruits and is formed of what 
I may call subclusters, of which there are six, containing in each from ten 
to twelve fruits, each subcluster being formed of a double row of seven and 
five, or sometimes six and five, becoming fewer as they approach the end 
of the spadix. 
A captain of the Royal Navy, who lives near here, and to whom I sent 
