Tall and stately, capped by a gracefully arched group of leaves and a
nodding spike of numerous flowers, the banana is noted alike for its
beauty, its nourishing fruit and its many qualities of economic value.
Some one has said, "The banana is the queen among ornamental herbs, and
the household god of the laborer's cottage."
To him who dwells in the tropics the banana is as wheat and rice are to
the inhabitants of more temperate regions.
Nearly all the authorities on the distribution of plants believe the
banana to be a native of Asia and that it was not found in the New
World previous to its introduction by man. An argument which strongly
supports this theory is the lack of native names for the plant in
Mexico and in South America. It was mentioned by the early Latin and
Greek writers, but seems to have been unknown to the ancient Egyptians.
Botanical authorities quite generally agree that the numerous varieties
of our common banana are produced from Musa sapientum. The generic
name, Musa, is by some claimed to have its origin in the Arabic word
Moux, their name for this group of plants. Others claim that the name
was given in honor of Antonius Musa, a physician who cured Augustus
Caesar of a disease that had been considered incurable. The specific
name has its origin in the myth that the groves of the banana plant
were used by the sages or wise men (sapientes) of India for their
councils and for rest, they also partaking of the fruit.
Another species of the genus Musa is called paradisiaca from the
mythical story that it was the forbidden fruit of Paradise. The common
name of this species is the plantain and by many it is considered
the parent of the numerous varieties in cultivation in Asia and the
adjacent islands and also in the New World. Many eminent authorities
believe that both the banana and the plantain, with the numerous
varieties of each, are the same species.
The banana plant is herbaceous and dies down to the ground after
fruiting. The true stem is underground and perennial, sending up new
shoots each season, which grow rapidly and in a few months bear ripened
fruit.
The stalk that bears the flowers grows to a height of from fifteen to
twenty feet and is surrounded by the sheathing bases of the leaves. The
flower cluster or spike is terminal and from two to four feet in length
and nodding. The oblong leaves are dark green in color, from five to
ten feet in length, and from one to two feet in width. The beautifully
arching leaves and the pendulous cluster of flowers or fruits forms an
attractive foliage and makes the plant a noted ornament for the garden.
The many varieties of both the banana and plantain, which vary in
taste, color, form and size, are very widely distributed throughout the
world, being usually found in a zone bounded by 38 degrees North and 38
degrees South latitude. It is said that a single plant will produce, on
the average, in one year three bunches of fruit weighing fifty or more
pounds. The amount of labor required in its cultivation is very small,
especially in the older plantations.
The number of bananas on a single stalk of the ordinary variety varies
from about one hundred to two hundred, with an average of about one
hundred and thirty. When a plantation is fully developed growth is so
rapid and so constant that ripe bunches of fruit may be gathered each
week.
For the best results a good, fertile soil is required. It is
interesting to note that but little moisture is needed, for the plants
attract water, either from the air or the waters deep under ground, and
the surface of the ground is always moist even in a time of unusual
drought.
The stalk that bears the heavy bunch of fruit, occasionally weighing as
much as eighty pounds, may be easily cut down by a single stroke of a
scythe or a machete.
Under cultivation the fruit seldom produces perfect seeds, but if
developed in a state of nature it is said that they will mature and
that many varieties are produced.
The banana is frequently used in coffee plantations to make the
necessary shade for the young coffee plants and at the same time it
yields an income while the planter is waiting for the production of the
coffee berry.
Natives of the tropics have found the leaves a cool and useful
thatching for the roofs of their huts.
The unripe fruits contain a large percentage of starch and the pulp,
when dried and reduced to a powder, makes an excellent and nutritious
flour or meal. The ripe fruit contains about twenty per cent of starch,
the remainder having been changed into sugar during the process of
ripening. Even intoxicating drinks are made by the Africans from the
juice, known as "banana beer" and "banana wine." It is not the fruit
alone that is used as food, as also the pith, the top of the flower
cluster and the young and tender shoots delight the taste and nourish
the body.
The economic value of the fibers of some of the species was known to
the Chinese and Japanese from remote times. The fiber obtained from
the leaves of both the banana and the plantain are valuable in the
manufacture of paper and fabrics of various kinds.
One of the most interesting and valuable of the species of Musa is the
Wild Plantain (Musa textilis) of the Philippine Islands. The fiber
obtained from this plant is the Manila or Cebu hemp of commerce, which
is used, in this country, mainly for the manufacture of binding twines,
cordage and mats. In France the finer fibers are quite extensively used
for the manufacture of fine veils, crapes, hats, delicate underclothing
and many other articles of apparel. The natives of the Philippines call
this fiber Abaca. It is called Manila because most of the fiber is
exported from the seaport of that name. We are told that "Manila hemp
began to be used extensively in this country, in Salem and Boston, in
1824 to 1827."
Probably the most peculiar of all the species is the Chinese banana
(Musa Cavendishii), which is extensively cultivated in China and
throughout the South Sea Islands. It is a dwarf, the plant seldom
attaining a height of more than six feet. It is robust and yields a
great harvest of fruit, a single bunch bearing from two hundred to
three hundred bananas, the flavor of which is excellent.
The opposite of the Chinese form is the Abyssinian (Musa ensete), which
may be called the giant plantain. It attains a height of thirty or more
feet and the leaves are sometimes twenty feet long by three feet wide.
The fruit is pulpless and dry, but the inner part of the stalk and the
young stalks are boiled and used for food. It is without doubt the most
handsome species of this wonderfully useful and beautiful group of
plants.
William Kerr Higley.
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| Transcriber's Note: |
| |
| Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note. |
| |
| Punctuation and spelling were made consistent when a predominant |
| form was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed. |
| |
| Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained. |
| |
| Italicized words are surrounded by underline characters, |
| _like this_. |
| |
| The Contents table was added by the transcriber. |
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