Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1891-10-23
ALL ABOUT BANANAS.
The Fruit Possesses All the Essen
tails to Sustain Human Life.

t'aAs 10 sustain Human Life.
The banana goes back to the earliest
DAYS. Alcxander's soldiers, as Pliny
says. joined the sages of India seated in
IT'S shades and paltaking of the delicious
fruits. Hence the name "sapientum"
given the plant, which likewise bears
the name of Jupitcr's fair daughter.
Musa. Now it has been shown that the
banana is of Malayan origin. How did
1t get to India and to South America and
to Mexlcos The feet of birds have borne
seed full 10, 900 miles, while the cocoa.
nut fioated we'll nigh the world around
IN the great ocean currents.
But the banana has no seeds. nor has
1t easi'g like the globular cocoanut to
1loat it around over the waters. Then it
must have been carried by man. 1t is
significant that the Aztecs had traditions
OF visits by people from over the seas,
whlle there was, to confirm it, an ad.
mixture of religion of the Brahmins in
their own theology. Would YOU think
that the despised banana would actually
step forward to prove that before Column
BUS was, or Lief Ericsson even had an ex.
istence, some swarthy denizcns of the
Old World had migrated across the
waters2
Manila rope Is made in the Philippine
Islands of the stem of the banana. This
stalk. which usually grows to be six
inches in diameter and from fifteen to
twenty feet high, has very valuable
fibre, from which are woven beautiful
textile fabrics. Many of the finest India
shaws 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 wild1 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 Gull
tivated by suckers, and it is in this way
that the literal plant perpetuates itself
indefinitely. In Central Africa YOU NAV
find thousands and thousands Of plants
that literally have in them the germ and
life of 10000 years. duration.
The banana belongs to the lily family,
and is developed tropical lily, from
which, by ages of cultivation, the eds
have been eliminated and the fruit for
which it was cultivated greatly OK
banded. In relation to the bearing
qualities of this fruit, Humboldt, who
early saw the wonders of the plant, said
the ground that would grow 80 pounds
of potatoes would also grow SO pounds
of wheat, but that the same ground
would grow 4,000 pounds of bananas,
consequently to that of wheat is 1873 to
and to that of potatoes A to 1. The
banana possesses all of the essentials tc
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, paper alone, will not dc
this. When taken as a steady diet it is
cooked-baked dry in the green state,
pulpei and boiled in water rs soup, OF
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 its great leaves,
which are six feet long aud two feet
wide.
+, The leaves of the banana are tender,
ana the strohS Wlnos OF inc tropics
! the hurricanes-socn tear the leaves in
strips, thereby adding to their grace and
beauty. The banana is u fruit that beast
and bird, as we'll as man, are fond OF,
and the owner, when he lives in 6
| sparse.y settled country, must need pro
| tcct his plantation by q fence Of some
thorn Observation-Disclosures Magazine