Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1891-08-20
ORIGIN OF THE BANANA.
some Interesting Facts About This De
Gghtful Tropical Fruit

eome Interesting Facts About This De-
lightful Tropical Fruit
The banana goes back to the earliest
days. Alexander's soldiers, as Pliny
says joined the sageS of India seated
IN its shades and partaking of its de-
nclous fruits. Hence the name sap
ientum, " given the plant which other
wise bears the name of Jupiter's fair
daughter. Musa Now it has been
shown that the banana is of Malavan
origin. How did it get to India and
South America and Mexico? The feet
OF birds have borne seed full 10, 900
miles, while the cocoanut Dated well
nigh the world around in the great
ocean currents
But the banana has no seeds. nor
has it a casing like the globular CO
coanut to float it around over the wa
tiers, Then it must have been carried
by man. 1t is significant that the
Aztecs had traditions OF visits bv peo-
pie from over the seas, while there
was to confirm it, an admixture of the
religion of the Brahmins in their own
theology, Would you think that the
desplsed banana would actually step
forward to prove that before Column
bus was or Lief Ericsson even had an
existence some swarthy denizens of
the Old World migrated across the
waters?
Manila rope is made in the Philip-
pine islands of the stem of the banana.
The stalk, which usually grows to be
SIX inches In diameter and from fifteen
10 twenty feet high, has very val
liable fiber, from which are woven
beautiful textile fabrics Many of the
finest India shawls and wrappers worn
by ladies of fashion are manufactured
from this fabric.
SO, too, an excellent article of paper
Is made from it. But are no varieties
of bananas wild? Yes, some have
been found in Ceylon. Cochin China
and the Philippines. These of course,
have seeds, but they are inferior to
the long cultivated varieties. The
banana is cultivated by suckers. and it
is in this way that the literal plant is
perpetuated indefinitely. In Central
Africa you may find thousands of
plants that literally have in them the
germ and life of 10000 years dur
alton.
The banana belongs to the lilv
! family, says GOldthwaite's GeOgraph-
lcal Magazine. and is a developed
tropical lily, from which by ages of
cultivation the seeds have been elimin-
| ated and the fruit for which it was
cultivated greatly expanded In re-
latlon to the bearing qualities OF this
! fruit Humboldt who early saw the
wonders OF the plant said that the
ground that would grow nincty-nine
pounds OF pOtatOe, would also grow
thirty three pounds Of wheat, but that
the same ground would grow 1000
pounds of bananas, consequently to
that of wheat is 1873 to | and to that
OF potatoes A to / The banana
possesses all OF the essentials to the
sustenance Of life. The savage OF the
sea isles and the Jungle owes what he
has Of physical strength to this food.
Wheat alone, potatoes alone, will
not do this. When taken as a steady
diet it is coOked-baked dry in the
green state, pulped and boiled in
water as soup, or cut in slices and
fried. do not know whose beauty |
admire the most, the majestic cocoa
palm, with its heavy crown Of great
fringed leaves, or the graceful banana.
with it's great leaves, which are six
feet long and two feet wide
The leaves OF the banana are tender
and the strong winds OF the tropics
the hurricaneS--sO0n tear the leaves
in strips, thereby adding to their
grace and beauty. The banana is
fruit that beast and bird, as we'll as
man, are fond Of and the owner. when
he lives in sparsely settled country.
must need protect his plantation by
fence of some thorn plant.