The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1870-01-22


servants, is madness
1t is very lucky to dream you pay for a
thing twice over, since afterward you will
probably take care to have all your bills
recelpted.
If you dream of beer, it is a sign that
you may have pot luck.
TO dream Of ice, is favorable omen for
lady, that she relates her dream to an
elegant young man passing pastry cook 5
shop on a hot day.
To dream of soap, betokens 4 combat in
which You may expect to get lathered
The Bananas and PIanta ms of the Tropics.
Poets have celebrated the banana plant
for its beauty, its luxuriance, the majesty
of its leaves, and the delicacy of its fruit ;
but never have they sufficiently praised the
utility of this tropical product. Those who
have never lived in southern countries arr
unable to fully appreciate its value. Some
look even with Indifference upon the gigan
tic clusters of this fruit, as tkey are un-
loaded from the steamers and sailing YES
sells; and yet they deserve special attention
and admiration, for they are to the inhaL-
itants of the torrid zone. what bread anG
potatoes are to those of the north temper
ate zone.
The banana tree is one of the most strik-
ing Illustrations of tropical fertility and
exuberance. A plant, which in a northern
climate, would require many years to gar
strength and size, is there the production
of ten or twelve months. The native of
the South plants few grains, taken from
an old tree, in moist and sandy soil, along
some river or lake they develop with the
greatest rapitlity, and at the end Of ten
months the first crop may be gathered
though the cluster and bananas are yet
small; but the following year one cluster
alone will weigh some sixty or more pounds
Even in the South they are always cut
down when green, rs they lose much OF
their flavor when left to ripen or soften Oh
the tree.
The truak of tho tree, if it may be so
called, and which grows to hight of some
fifteen feet is formed only by the fleshy
part of the large leaves some of which at
tain a length of eighteen feet, ard are tive
and 4 half feet in width. While from an
upper sprout You perceive the large yellow
flowers, Or already formed fruits, you Sc,
underneath a cluster, which is bending til,
tree by its weight.
The plantain tree is much the same as
the banana, with the difference, however
that its fruit cannot be eaten raw, like til,
bananas, and that it is much larger i'll size
Almost every portion of the banana tree i,
useful. First of all, the nutritious fruit
Tie plantains when green and hard, al.
boiled in water or with meat like our pota
toes, or they are cut in slices and fried il
fat when they are soft and ripe. There i.
4 singularity about the boiled plantain,
worthy Of being mentioned. Pork espe
cially, and other meats are so exceedingly
fat in the tropics that they would be most
disgusting or even impossible to eat with
either bread or potatoes, but the plantai
seems to ncutralze or absorb all the grcas,
substance, and the fattest meat is thus eater
by natives and foreigners without the least
inconvenience.
Ripe bananas are mashed into paste, OF
which the natives bake sort of bread.
II 81, |. .lo.
heavy. This paste, which contains much
starch, can lie dried, and thus kept for q
length Of time, which is often of great ser
vice to mariners. The young sprouts ar,
used and prepared like vegetables. and til,
fibrous parts of the stalks of the maiesti,
leaves are ed like MANILA for ropes and
coarse CLOTH.
The util;. Of the leaves is theme ricl
enough to IL, volume they are used to
cover tie l.uts. for table, cloths and nap
kins, OF W.T.: ping paper. The dough OF
bread, ins;:; of being put in pan, into
the oven. j. spread on piece of plantaib
leaf; it viii .cither crisp nor adhere to the
bread whCM taken out. The Indians OF
America cay all their products such as
maize, sus&" coffee. etc, in bags made OF
this leaf, " oh they know how to arrange
50 well, thai they transport an 'arroba,
Or twenty-i, pounds any distance without,
single gr".a escaping, and without any
appliance other than Llama or creerer t.
tie it up with. As to the medicinal quail
ties Of the leaves, they are numerous. IN
deed, book has been written upon them.
| speak, however, from my own experience.
The young, yet unrolled leaves, are supe-
rior to any salve or ointment. If applied
to an iniiamed part of the body, the effec,
is soothing and cooling, or if applied to
wound or ulcer, they excite a proper heal
thy action, and afterwards completely heal
the wound. Decoctions made of the leaves
are used among the natives for various dis.
eases.
Since the beginning of the world thi,
plant has ranked among the first in tn,
Flora of Asia. The Christians of the orr
ent look upon it as the tree of Paradise
which bore the forbidden fruit, and they
think its leaves furnished the first covcrin.
to our original parents. According to
other historians, the Adams fig was the
plant, which the messengers brought from
the promised land to Moses, who had sent
them out to reconncitre. sit is under the
shade of the nsusa sapientiuns, that as re-
corded by Pliny, the learned Indians
seated themselves to mediate over the
vicissitudes of life, and to talk over differ
ent philosophic subjects, and the fruit of
this tree was their only food" The Orien-
tai Christians, up to the present date, re-
gard the banana almost with reverence
their active fancy beholds in its center, if a
cut is made transverse. the imaue of The