5 - 
Cultivation . — There is, perhaps, no tropical 
plant easier of cultivation than the banana. The 
suckers having been planted out at the commence¬ 
ment of the rainy season, they will grow vigorously 
and produce fruit in about a year. The land must 
be kept tree of weeds, and an occasional hoeing up 
of the soil will prove beneficial. Before the plant 
throws out its flowering stem, suckers will make their 
appearance above the ground and these will require 
careful attention. Whilst the plant is young all the 
suckers except one should be cut away, the best 
plan being to sever them with a sharp spade. Thus 
all the vigour of the plant is thrown into the fruit¬ 
ing of the first stem and'into the growth of the one 
to supplant it, and in this way fine large bunches 
can be reckoned on. After the third year, when the 
stole has matured, from three to five stems may 
be allowed to grow, but on no consideration should 
a larger number be permitted to shoot up if fine 
bunches of fruit are looked for. 
The second stem usually produces a larger bunch 
of fruit than the first ; but, as the land becomes ex¬ 
hausted, the bunches of course decrease in size, and 
this shows the necessity for manure in some form 
or other. After the stole has borne a crop or two, 
the earth should be loosened round the stems, and 
manure or decayed leaves and the cut banana stems 
forked in, the whole being moulded up with surface 
soil from the vicinity. If the stole show signs 
of exhaustion, as it probably will after a few years, 
it should be stumped out entirely, and a fresh sucker 
planted in its place—the fertility of the soil being 
restored by a free application of manure. 
When the land is intended to be kept in per¬ 
manent banana cultivation, a good plan—after 
lining out—is to plant each alternate hole one sea¬ 
son, and to supply the vacant spaces another sea¬ 
son. In this way all the stoles will not become 
exhausted at the same time, and by a judicious 
