_The leaves are frequently eight feet long, and more than two feet broad, and are so thin and tender that they are often torn by the wind. The fruit is produced in bunches so large as each to weigh forty pounds and upwards._ To the negroes of the West Indian islands the plantain is an invaluable fruit, and, like bread to the Europeans, is with them denominated the staff of life. In Jamaica alone many thousand acres are planted with these trees. This fruit is usually gathered before it is ripe, and, after the skin has been peeled off, is roasted for a little while in a clear fire; it is then scraped and eaten as bread, for which it is an excellent substitute. Plantains are sometimes boiled, and eaten with salt meat; they are also cut into slices and fried, pounded, and made into puddings, and used in various other ways. Horses, cattle, swine, and other domestic animals, are fattened with them. When ripe they may be eaten raw, and, in this state, they have somewhat the taste of a ripe pear. The _leaves_ of the plantain-tree, being soft and smooth, are sometimes employed as dressings after blisters; and, when green, are used as food for hogs. The vegetation of this tree is so rapid that if a line or thread be drawn across, and on a level with the top of one of the leaves, when it begins to expand, it will be seen, in the course of an hour, to have grown nearly an inch. 271. _The BANANA is a valuable plant_ (Musa sapientum) _which grows in the West Indies and other tropical countries, and has leaves about six feet in length, and a foot broad in the middle; and fruit four or five inches long, and about the shape of a cucumber._ When ripe, the banana is an agreeable _fruit_, with a soft and luscious pulp; and is frequently introduced in desserts in the West Indies. The Spaniards have a superstitious dislike to cut this fruit across; they always slice it from end to end, because, in the former case, the section presents an imaginary resemblance to the instruments of our Saviour's crucifixion. The banana is sometimes fried in slices as fritters. If the pulp of this fruit be squeezed through a fine sieve, it may be formed into small loaves, which, after having been properly dried, may be kept for a great length of time. 272. _MILLET is a small yellowish seed of a grassy plant_ (Holcus sorghum), _with large and compact stalks which rise to the height of seven or eight feet, and is much cultivated in several parts of India and Africa._