Omaha daily bee., 1896-04-18
GREAT IS THE nANANA.
n Necessary All the People OF the
Earth Could Live on IL Alone.

EErth Could Live on 1t Atone.
The banana, which alone of fruits possesses
all the essentials to the sustenance Of human
life is ggrth more tAaa ~ the others, and
Is thus the most valuable fruit in the world,
says Youths Companion. Even with us It
already holds its own when compared with
any other fruit, while in some countries
Africa, for instance-its position is as i'm
portant as that Of wheat in the United
States, or rice in China. Over the larger
part of the Dark Continent the banana Is the
staple article OF native food, and every Afri-
can village has its banana fields, as we have
fields Of potatoes or corn.
The banana belongs to the great Musa
family which, with its score of species ana
innumerable varieties, encircles the world pc
tween the tropics Of Cancer and Capricorn,
even extending its limits a few degrees to
the north and south Of them. The plantain,
of which we read so much in all books de-
scribing travel in the tropics, Is but n larger
and coarser variety of the panama. WINE
MANILA hemp comes from another branch Oh
the banana family, the great Musa textilis OF
the Philippine islands.
Although some varieties of the banana at
tain the size of small trees, 1t is an herbaceous
plant, and the kind most generally cultivated
for their fruit are the dwarfs, which grow to
a height of but four or five feet. The small
est of these produce the delicate fig bananas,
unknown to northern markets, but almost
the only ones eaten as fruit in countries
where the banana is grown. While the little
fig banana Is always classed as a fruit, plan
tains. which are the largest of the family,
are invariably fried or baked and regarded as
vegetables. Ordinary bananas. taken before
they are quite ripe, may be acceptabiy pre-
pared in the same way. For cooking OF Dry
ing they are cut into strips lengthwise, Whlie
for serving in their natural state tney are
sliced crosswise.
A number of delicious desserts may be pre-
pared by cutting ripe bananas into thin slices
and serving with custard, with lime juice anu
sugar, with lemon juice and desiccateu cocoa
nut, or in other ways that will readily sug-
gest themselves. Bananas can be dried as
easily as apples or peaches. In TINS conul-
ton they will keep for a long time, ana may
be eaten by themselves or used in the making
of pies, cakes or puddings.
The banana Is extremely sensitive TO cola,
and will not withstand a touch of frost. 1t
has no seeds, but is propagated from suckers
or roots, having eyes like potatoes. Each eye
produces q plant, and from the largest OF
these at the end of a twelvemonth VII ap-
pear a huge purple blossom. 1t depends from
a thick stem, is big and round at the oase,
tapers to a point, is a foot or eighteen lnches
long. and Is composed Of many compact rows
Of great overlapping petals.
beginning at the base of the blossom these
petals curl upward, disclosing tiny 'hands
of bananas, each having from eight 10 ten
'nnRGTS, dS the III luud nuns nv NN'HNN
by the grower. In this manner the sue
cessive hands are gradually brought to view
by the unfolding and dropping OF petals on
alternate sides of the stem, until the bunch
is complete. Then after some weeks OF life
the shrunken blossom, which still clings to
its lower extremity, withers and drops off.
bananas always curl their outer end upward
as they grow, and not downward, as is sup
posed by most persons who have only seen
the punches upside down in fruit stalls.
After the fruit is formed it takes about
three months to "fll' or attain it's full size.
Then, although 1t 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 it's single bunch of fruit the
lifework of the plant is ended, and it quickly
dies, or, as is always the case where 1t is
cultivated, is at once cut down. When thus
treated the severed trunk yields a copious
flow of juice that is in itself an indelible
ink, the stain of which cannot be removed
from linen or cotton. The place of the
defunct tree is Immediately taken by the
sturdiest of the cluster of shoots that have
sprung up in it's shadow, and thus from a
single sucker the supply of bearing plants is
continued indefinitely.
Bananas require a damp, rich soil; but that
being given, they repay the labor of planting
and such light cultivation as is required to
keep them free from other growths, with a
yield so great as to be out of all proportion to
the work expended upon them. After a
while, too, the plants aid in their own Guilt
walton by so covering the ground about them
with their own refuse leaves as effectually
to prevent any other growth in their imme-
date vicinity.
So generous is the fruitage of this extra
ordinary plant that its food product was esti-
mated by Baron Won Humboldt to be 1873
times greater than that of wheat, and forty
four times more than that of potatoes. In
other words, IL a certain area of ground
would produce thirty-three pounds Of wheat
or ninety pounds of potatoes, an equal area
of banana land would yield 1000 pounds of
fruit, containing all the DEMONSTRATING prop
critics of both wheat and potatoes. Won
Humboldt also asserted that the arabic lands
Of Central Africa alone can produce enough
bananas to feed the world.
1t is now generally admitted that the ba-
mana is indigenous only TO the Malayan PENN
sula. and that. as it has neither seeds to be
scattered by birds, nor a buoyant husk. Ike
that OF the cocoanut. to float it in ocean
c%urrants, 1t must have been by human agency
spread to all the other parts Of the world
where it is now found. But as 1t was discov-
cred in Central America and the West In
dian islands by the followers Of Columbus,
the question arises: who carried 1t to those
p%lares?' Was the original discovery and
settlement VI AlHeTiCd lliue ny DdHdna plant
ers from the Pacific Islands, ages before
Europeans crossed the Atlantic? II the story
of the bananas wanderings were truly re-
corded. much of the hidden history of the
human race might stand revealed.
A few years ago the only bananas brought
to this country came in small but swift sail
ing vessels from the West Indies, and the
fruit, now so plentiful everywhere, was al
most unknown beyond the larger coast cities.
Then bananas sold at retail for from 8 to 10
cents apiece, and but few people were able
to indulge in them. The demand has doubled
about every five years since 1860, and the re-
suit is that now there are regular lines of
fruit steamers, devoted almost wholly to the
banana trade. running from Boston, New
York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and New Or
leans to Jamaica, Cuba and various Central
American ports, and bringing back bananas
by the million punches during every month
of the year. Though the largest shipments
are received during the summer months,
when they can be more economically ripened,
the banana is the one fruit that is always in
season.
Few bananas are raised within the limits
of the I'm ted States, only the extreme south
'rn portions Of II jridl an California being
available for their cultivation; but with the
ever-increasing facilities for their importation
II