[Banana varieties.] In Albay there are about twelve varieties of the best banana cultivated, which are particularly favored by the qualities of the soil.  The cultivation is extremely simple, and entirely independent of the seasons.  The plants thrive best on the slopes of the volcanic mountains (in which Albay and Camarines abound), in open spaces of the woods protected by the trees, which cast their shadows to an extent of about sixty feet.  In exposed level ground they do not thrive so well, and in marshy land not at all.

[Cultivation.] In the laying out of a new plantation the young shoots are generally made use of, which sprout so abundantly from the roots that each individual one soon becomes a perfect plant.  In favorable ground the custom is to allow a distance of about ten feet between each plant; in poor ground six feet.  The only care necessary is the extermination of the weeds, and clearing away the undergrowth during the first season; later on, the plants grow so luxuriantly and strongly that they entirely prevent the growth of anything else in their vicinity.  The protection afforded by the shade of the trees at this period is no longer required, the young buds finding sufficient protection against the sun’s rays under cover of the fan-like leaves.  Only in exceptional cases, contrary to the usual practice, are the plants raised from seed.  The fruit, when ready, is cut off and dried, though care must be taken that it is not over ripe; otherwise the kernels will not germinate.  These latter are about the size of peppercorns; and the extraction of them in the edible species almost always brings about decay.  Two days before sowing, the kernels are taken out of the fruit, and steeped overnight in water; on the following day they are dried in a shady place; and on the third day they are sown in holes an inch deep in fresh, unbroken, and well-shaded forest ground, allowing six inches distance between each plant and row.  After a year the seedlings, which are then about two feet high, are planted out, and tended in the same way as the suckers. [Differences with abaca.] While many of the edible bananas bear fruit after one year, and a few varieties even after six months, the abaca plant requires on an average three years to produce its fiber in a proper condition; when raised from suckers four years; and raised from year-old seedlings, even under the most favorable conditions, two years.

[Cutting.] On the first crop, only one stalk is cut from each bush; but later on the new branches grow so quickly that they can be cut every two months. [221] After a few years the plants become so strong and dense that it is scarcely possible to push through them.  Bast is in its best condition at the time of blossoming; but, when the price of the fiber happens to stand high in the market, this particular time is not always waited for.