p. 570 | ABOUT BANANAS

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jul 16, 1894

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 20, No. 36.

ABOUT BANANAS.

"WILL," said Uncle Jack, as he handed the boys a basket of fruit that he had brought for them, "what fruit do you like best?"

"Bananas, sir."

"I thought so. Now, the question is, What do you children know about bananas?"

"I know they grow in hot countries," said Joe, "and I think they grow in the woods."

"Some kinds do grow in the woods," replied Uncle Jack, "but the fruit of wild banana plants is almost always too bitter to eat. That which is good to eat is the fruit of trees planted in gardens or in fields."

"And, uncle, from what do they grow?" asked Joe.

"A great many shoots come up from the roots of the old trees. These are cut off and set in the ground, just as we start geraniums and rose trees. Pretty soon the young shoots send up two long leaves. But you would not think they were leaves. They are curled so tightly together that they look just like a round stick. After a while the leaves unfold and hang down like branches. Other leaves grow out, curled just as tight as the first. These soon uncurl and bend down, and others grow in their place. Then the plant really begins to look like a tree, but the trunk is not hard wood like the oak or the pine; it is nothing but leaf stems packed closely together."

"At the end of nine months a deep purple bud appears in the center of the leaves. Pretty soon it grows out and hangs down. It looks like a great purple heart. At last it opens, and there are seen rings and rings of bright little buds arranged around the stem. Soon each little bud bursts into a yellow blossom. Then comes the fruit. At first each banana is only a tiny green pod, but it grows and grows till the cluster is very heavy."

"How heavy?" asked Will.

"Oh, as heavy as you are, Will!"

"Ninety-one pounds?"

"Yes. Each banana weighs very little by itself, but sometimes there are several hundred bananas on one stem. A great many are picked while they are still green. If they were not, we should never have them here. They would not keep long enough. When gathered they are put in a cool place, or are buried in the earth, until they are taken on the steamer to be brought to New York or Halifax."

"What becomes of the tree, sir?"

"Oh, when it has borne its cluster of fruit, the poor thing withers away; the big stem and the great leaves die, but the root still lives, and all around the dead stem come up the young shoots, or baby plants, which, as I told you, are saved to plant again."

"Do people in the hot countries eat many bananas, Uncle Jack?" asked Will.

"Thousands of people live almost entirely on them, Will, just as people in some countries live on potatoes and others on rice. They have bananas for breakfast, dinner, and tea. Sometimes the people of South America cut the fruit into strips, then dry it in the sun, grind it, and make a flour from it."

"Fancy having banana biscuit for breakfast!" whispered Will.

"The young shoots," concluded Uncle Jack, "that come up from the roots of the dead trees, are eaten as greens, like dandelions. The leaves have a watery juice which is used to dye white cloth. It makes it brown or black. The long, tough threads of the leaves are woven into a beautiful kind of cloth called grass cloth."—Our Sunday Afternoon.