BAX 
BAX 
establishments can afford in the stove 
department. One species, M. Caven- 
dishii, however, possesses a character 
more in accordance with our limited 
accommodation, and offers a very reason¬ 
able probability of the Banana being 
cultivated in English gardens to an 
extent perhaps equalling that of any 
other exotic fruit; while 21. sapient mm 
requires at least twelve feet for the rise 
of its magnificent foliage, this plant can 
be accommodated in half that space, the 
average height of a full-grown specimen 
of 21. CavmdisJvii being from four to 
five feet, and we are told the flavour of 
its fruit is richer than that of any other 
kind. 
The cultivation of any of them is 
marked by nothing difficult where the 
proper means are at hand, the first 
requisite being a well-built light stove, 
and if this has a bark bed in it so that 
bottom heat can be supplied, the matu¬ 
rity of the plant will be hastened and 
the production of fruit consequently 
brought about at an earlier period. 
Propagation is effected by separating 
the offsets from the parent, and as these 
are produced freely a collection of plants 
may soon be formed; those about six 
months old usually offer the best chance 
of success, because they are then well 
rooted, and only require to be treated as 
the mature specimens 3 smaller offsets 
may be induced to root by plunging 
them in a brisk bottom, keeping them 
covered close with a hand-light, but 
it is not advisable to remove them till 
they have made sufficient roots to ren¬ 
der their future progress certain, unless 
a fruit-bearing plant is likely to be in¬ 
jured by a crowd of suckers which will 
sometimes spring from its base, drawing 
away a considerable share of the nourish¬ 
ment that should go to swell off the 
fruit. The soil they delight in while 
young is a mixture of light peat and 
loam, using rather large pots, that an 
abundance of root may be formed; indi¬ 
viduals of two feet in height should 
be placed in twelve-inch pots, and 
plunged to the rim in the tan, where, 
if they are kept well supplied with, 
water through the first summer, they 
will make great progress ; in the spring 
of the second season they may be trans¬ 
ferred to tubs, using at this shifting a 
stronger soil, composed of rich friable 
loam and rotten hot-bed manure in 
equal parts, adding a portion of peat 
sufficient to make the mass-porous ; in 
this the plants will grow rapidly, and in 
the course of twelve months attain their 
full size. It is decidedly advantageous, 
for the reasons before given, to keep 
them all the growing season with a 
steady heat about the roots, discontinu¬ 
ing it on the approach of winter, in 
order to allow them the necessary rest. 
In the third year they mav be ex- 
pected to fruit, and, that no induce¬ 
ment to a renewed growth may super- 
O t f 1, 
vene, it will be better to defer shifting 
till it is seen that such will not be the 
case till the succeeding season. In the 
event of the flower-scape appearing, the 
surface of the soil should be removed to 
the depth of a foot, and the space filled 
up with half-decayed leaves mixed with 
an equal quantity of fresh slice p’s-dung 
or some other strong manure; this will 
assist the plant in swelling the fruit, 
and enable it to attain a larger size: 
the object in mixing the leaves with the 
manure is to prevent its becoming closed 
and impervious to air by the action of 
the water, which will require to be 
given very freely till near the ripening 
of the fruit; throughout the whole of 
the period the sun should be allowed to 
reach the plants as much as possible, 
and when the fruit has attained about 
half its size, to guard it from injury, or 
breaking, from its weight, it mav be well to 
place a stout stick to uphold and protect 
it. Eorty pounds is mentioned as an 
average weight of the cluster in the 
Indies. 
All the remaining species are highly 
ornamental, both on account of their 
flowers and magnificent foliage ; ornata , 
rosacea 5 , and superba, are particularly 
beautiful, and well deserve a place 
wherever they can be accommodated; 
when anv of them are grown less for 
their fruit than for their noble appear¬ 
ance, the object being rather to keep 
them in a contracted form than to 
