Montpelier examiner. [volume] (Montpelier, Idaho) 1895-1937, 1896-07-04


prepared by cutting ripe bananas into
thin slices and serving with custard, with
lime juice and sugar, with lemon juice
and desiccated cocoanut OF in other
ways that will readily suggest them
selves. Bananas can be dried as easily
as apples or peaches, In this condition
they will keep for long time, and may
be eaten by themselves or used In the
making of pies, cakes or ruddings.
The banana il cxtrcmel, sensitive TO
cold, and will not Withstand a touch OF
frost. II has no seeds, but is propa-
gated from suckers or roots, having ey es
like potatoes. Each eye produces a plant
and from the largest of these, at the end
of a tweVemonth. will appear huge
purple blossom 1t depends from a thick
stem, is big aud round atthe base, tapers
10 point, Is foot or eighteen inches
long, and Is composed of many compact
rows of great overlapping petals.
Beginning at HE base of the blossom,
these petals curl upward, disclosing the
tiny "hands" Of bananas, each having
from eight to ten ''fingcts." as the indi-
vidual fruits are termed by the grower
In this manner The successive hands are
gradually brought to view BY the un
folding and dropping OF petals on alter
nate sides of the stem, until the bunch is
complete Then after some weeks of
hfc the shrunken blossom, which still
clings to its lower extremity, wither>
and drops off Bananas always curl
their outer end upward as they grow,
and not downward, as is supposed BY
most persons who have only seen the
punches hanging upside down in fruit
stalls.
After the fruit is formed it takes about
three months to "fll" or attain its full
size. Then, although it is still green,
the bunch is cut and hung in a shaded
place to ripen, for bananas, like pears,
ripen best after being gathered. Thus,
unlike most tropical fruits, the banana
of northern markets is fully equal in
flavor and nutrition to that consumed
where grown.
Having borne its single bunch of fruit
the life work of the plant is ended, and
it quickly dies, or, as is always the case
where it is cultivated, is at once cut
down. When thus treated the severed
trunk yield copious flow of juice that
Is in Itself an indelible ink, the stain oil
which cannot be removed from linen OF
cotton The place of the defunct ''tree'
is Immediately taken by the sturdiest Of
the cluster of shoots that have sprung
up In its shadow, and thus from single
sucker the supply of bearing plants il
continued indefinitely.
Bananas require damp rich soil ; bu
that being given, they repay the labor
of planting and such slight cultivation
as is required to keep them free from
other growths. with a yield SO great a
to be out of all proportion to the worl
expended upon them. after a while
too, the plants aid in their own cultiva
ton, by so covering the ground abou
with their own refuse leaves as effect
ually to prevent any other growth il
their immediate vicinity.
So generous is the fruitage of this ex
traordinary plant that It's food Produc
J was estimated By Baron Won Humboldt
to be I35 times greater than that o
e wheat. aid forty-four more times tha
: that OF potatos. In other words. If
I certain area Of ground would produc
thirty.three pounds Of wheat or ninety
nine of pota.os, an equal area of bs
] mana land would yield 1000 pounds c
: fruit, containing all the life-sustainin
2 properties Of both wheat and potato'
! Won Humboldt also asserted that III
S arabic lands In Central merica alon
can produce enough bananas to feed III
I world.
Ii is now generally admitted that ia
, banana is indigenous only to the Ma
layan peninsula, and that, as IL LA
neither seeds TO be scattered by bird
nor buoyant husk, like that of the &C
I coanut, TO float 1t In ocean currents,
must have been by human agenc
= spread 10 all the other parts of the worl
where il is now found But as 1t wa
discovered in Central America and III
West Indian islands By the followers c
Columbus, the question arises; "Wh
carried it to those placesf" Was tn
original discovery and settlement {
America made by banana planter
. from the Pacific islands ages befor
Europeans crossed the Atlantics II tn
story OF the bananas wanjeEings wer
truly recorded, much of the hidden hi,
tory OF the human race might stand r,
vealed
, a few years ago the only banana
brought to this counirv came In sma
but swift-sailing vessels from the We
indies, and the fruit, now so plentift
everywhere, was almost unknown b,
3 yond the larger coast cities. Then b;
nanas sold at retail for from sto 10 cent
5 apiece. and but few people were able I
indulge In Them. The demand Ia
doubled about every five years sine
1900 and the result is that now ther
are regular lines of fruit steamers, d,
E voted almost wholly TO the banar
! trade, running from Boston, New Yorl
= Philadelphia. Baltimore and New Or
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