This is not the proper place to enter into a detailed history of the banana, its culture and its varieties; but there is much uncertainty in the Northern markets as to the distinction between bananas and plantains, which it may be well to remove. At present plantains are not brought to the Boston or New York markets. Botanically, it is difficult to distinguish between these two fruits, as connecting varieties run imperceptibly into the two extremes; no one, however, would ever mistake a typical plantain for a banana, either single or in bunch. Of all the varieties of the banana (and I have myself seen at least two hundred, including the seeding-banana of Chittagong), only two or three are raised for exportation in Guatemala, and these are by no means the best; but as the steamer people will give no more for a choice variety, there is no inducement to improve the stock. Both yellow and red varieties are grown, and the former sometimes have two hundred and fifty bananas on a bunch, weighing, unripe, ninety pounds. The plantain is yellow when ripe (I have never seen a red variety), and is much larger and more curved than a banana, while the bunches are looser and much smaller, seldom numbering more than thirty-five fruits. Some plantains attain a length of fifteen inches, and some are quite palatable uncooked; but the usual way to eat them is either baked or fried. Few of our Northerners appreciate the wonderful nutritive qualities of the plantain, which in this respect surpasses the banana; and it may be authoritatively stated that sixteen hundred and seven square feet of rich land will produce four thousand pounds of nutritive substance from plantains, which will support fifty persons, while the same land planted with wheat will support but two. When the plantain is dried, it will keep from twenty to thirty years; and if dried before ripening, an admirable meal (better than arrowroot) can be made from the ground white fruits, while the ripe fruit forms a conserve not unlike a fig in flavor, and of course free from the seeds so troublesome in that fruit. One hundred parts of the fresh fruit contain twenty-seven parts of nutritive matter, easily digested and superior to pure starch. The comparative cost and profit of the two fruits may be thus stated:— Banana. Plantain. Cost of one acre of land $1.00 Clearing and planting 20.00 300 bunches 15,000 fruits 430 stools 2.50 at .50 at $1.25 Care to first crop 10.00 less cost per hundred Shipping 10.00 ------- ----------- ------------- $43.50 $106.50 $144.00