AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENT. Culture of the Banana in Florida. It is remarkable how little value is placed on the climate and producing capacities of Florida by the American people. They are anxious to acquire Cuba at almost any sacrifice, while they neglect to develop and improve the resources of Florida which are in many respects similar and not less valuable than those of Cuba. Hitherto many causes have conspired to retard the settlement and cultivation of this land of flowers and fraits; some of these causes, and perhaps the most potent, have been overcome, but not until Florida is made accessable to every part of the United States by means of railways. Will her resources be developed or the nation enjoy the luxuries which she is capable of producing? We copy the following account of the culture of the Banana from the Ancient City. THE BANANA.In the culture and production of this nutricious fruit, all that is necessary for its propagation, is a moist alluvial soil beyond the reach of severe frosts. Hence, that portion of our State, known as South Florida, is well adapted to its cultivation. In preparing the soil, great care should be taken to extract all roots, and other matter which may engender the woodlouse, as that insect has been known to destroy the plant, when first set out. Let the plow run deep, as the small fibrous roots require constant moisture until the plant is firmly attached to the earth, after this they only require a slight dressing with the hoe, until the fruit is matured. This fruit is raised by transplanting the shoots or suckers, emanating from the root of the parent stem, and set firmly in the earth about four feet each way; watering them a few times, insures their growing rapidly, unless injured in taking them up, which should be done with a sharp spade or knife, keeping as much of the soil attached to the root as possible. This will secure the sucker against almost any danger, for after it has fairly commenced growing, neither excessive rains or long droughts will materially affect them. The BANANA in Mexico, Central and South America, is to the inhabitants, what the cereal grasses-corn, wheat, rye and barley -are to Northern States, Western Asia and Europe, and what the numerous varieties of rice are to the natives of India and China. The space favorable to the cultivation of this valuable plant in South Florida, does not, perhaps, exceed 15,000 square miles:including all the Keys, bordering on that portion of our Peninsula, together, with a small portion of Texas, near the Rio Grande. At Key West, Miama, Old Tampa, &c., we have seen bunches, that in our opinion, would weigh from 75 to 100 lbs., and the fruit occasionally exceed 6 inches in circumference, with a length of 6 or 7, containing from 75 to 90 of the fruit. These bunches, however, would not do for a general average, a deduction of 1-4 would be a fair and probable estimate. Baron Humboldt, a celebrated traveller, while in Mexico, examined this valuable plant with great interest. He doubts whether there is any other plant on the globe which, in so small a space of ground, can produce so great a mass of nutriment. Nine or ten months after the sucker has been inserted in the earth the banana begins to form its clusters, and the fruit may be gathered in less than a year. When the fruit is taken off, the stalk should be cut down, and there is always found among the numerous shoots which have put forth roots one that will bear three or four months later. Hence a plantation is perpetuated without any other care than that of cutting the stems on which the fruit has ripened, and giving the earth a slight dressing. An acre of land may contain at least 1,100 plants, which, in the space of one year, at a very moderate calculation, will yield more than 55,000 lbs. avoirdupoise of nutritive substance thrice the quantity of food over any known in the vegetable kingdom. Let us now examine this plant in a lucrative view, and compare it with any of our soils' productions. An acre, as we before stated, will contain at least 1,100 plants, these will average $1 each, and many will double it, in almost any market; thus making an acre of land produce more real profit than any other production, with little or no labor. Humboldt estimates, that the produce of banana from the same quantity of land, is to that of wheat as 133 :1, and to that of potatoes as 44:1-and he further states that the same extent of ground in Mexico, on which the banama is raised, is capable of maintaining fifty individuals, whereas in Europe under wheat it would not furnish subsistence for two. In South America numerous preparations are made of this fruit, both before and after its maturity. Before they are matured it is usually baked or fried, or cut into thin slices and dried in the sun, when well pounded make meal or flour, and is a very wholesome article of food. When fully ripe, it is exposed to the sun and preserved like figs, and will without doubt, in time, form a large article of commerce in South Florida. In the cultivation of this plant for market, it is important that your location should be on navigable streams, as land carriage greatly injures and breaks off the fruit; thus the entire southern coast, including all its rivers and streams, are well adapted to its culture. While on a visit to Fort Myres, Carloosahatchee River, a few months since, [Dec. last] we were surprised at its culture-beauty of its plant, and the different stages of its fruit. Some were in |