So 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



fjutv I, 1882. 



could not deoy the impeacliment, so I made him a 

 chanuel ouiside ti.e proi^ertT into wbicli tl^e water 

 was diverted. I tbus also got rid of his right of 

 presence on his water days. We have to husband the 

 water most carefully, and principally succeed with 

 planis tbat grow naturally in regions where there are 

 long droughts, such as Mexico, Pt-ru, Chili, the Cape 

 of Good Hope, Australia. &c. 



To return to the Date Palms. They do not thrive 

 in regions where tht-y cannot reach water by means 

 of their long strong roots, or where they cannot be 

 watered. The largest Palm forest I have ever seen is 

 at Klche, in the province of Murcia, in Spain. It is 

 manj- miles in circumference, in a most arid, burnt 

 up spot, but then a sm^.ll river runs through it ; 

 round every tree there ie a large saucer or depression, 

 and at intervals throughout the summer the river is 

 turned into these saucers hy irrigation canals through- 

 out the summer the river is turned into these sattcrs 

 by irrigation canals throughout its entire extent. The 

 trees are grown for profit. They produce ripe edible 

 fruit, which are sold in all the markets of this part 

 of Spain as an important article of food. The Dates, 

 howevt-r, are not the saccharine Da'es we see and eat 

 iu the North as a sweetmeat, but a farinaceous dry 

 Date wh'ch grinds into tlnur, and is consumed as 

 such. I was told in Alj^iers that they cultivate in 

 tbe dusert oases sixty different kinds of Date. I saw 

 very few Date trees in the vicinity of Algiers and along 

 the coast, Tiiey are principally cultivated on the 

 southern side of the Mount Atlas, in the numerous 

 oases that are found in the desert within a short dis- 

 tance from the southern basis of the Atlas range. 



The existence of these desert oases is easily accounted 

 for. An immense quantity of rain falls in Aleeria 

 every winter on the Atlas Mountains, the prevalent 

 winds being north-east or north-west, that is, moist 

 sea winds. Immenee masses of water thus fall down 

 the ."iouthern slopes of the Atlas, m'istly calcareous, and 

 reach the sandy desert at their base. Sinking into 

 the sand they form regular rivers, underground, run- 

 ning along the base of the mountains from w. st to 

 east, or east to west, at a variable depth, according 

 to the amount of earth or of granitic sand that covers 

 the calcareous rocks. Every now and then thrse sub- 

 terranean streams come near the surface, forming a 

 mnrsh or "shott," as it is called, or a fertile oasis if 

 a spring rises to the surface, or even if the water 

 can be tapped by wells. It is in these regions that 

 the Date P.ilm grows and flourishes by tens of thousands, 

 forming the principal food ntiiple. If the roots reach 

 the water all is well, as with my Palms ; it not, ai d 

 water can be got from deep wells, the Arabs accept 

 tbe necessary labour and water them. 



It is a remarkable fact that most of these ma'Shrs 

 and oases springs are strongly impregnated with salt, 

 ■which seems to s^Ult the tree. The native Arabs get 

 aci'usionied to these salt waters and thiive on theui, 

 but it is a great difficulty with Europeans and is one 

 of the greatest drawbacks the French trO"ps have to 

 encounter in tlieir campaigiis in and occupation of the 

 desert oases. The .young Dale trers can be planted 

 in soil the wat.r of which is so greatly impregnated 

 with salt as to be u drinkable even by the natives, 

 and that without suffering in the least. They can, it 

 is said, flourish in water containing as much salt as 

 a drachm 10 a pint. These deep waters are easily 

 reached by artesian wells, which the French are 

 introducing all over the p gion of the oaee.s at the 

 ba-e of the Mount Atlas range or within moderate 

 pv.iximiiy. 



No other fruit tree thrives, nor do vegetables thrive, 

 in these saline soils, and the vaulted fertility of the 

 oases, except in the case of the Date Palm, is a fable ; 

 moreover, in Southern regions, singularly enough, deep 

 shade, such as that given by groves of Palm trees, 



all but destroys vegetation underneath. Light does not 

 seein to penetrate under shade as in the K'orth, deep 

 shafle all but killing ground vegetation : I see this 

 exemplified in my garden. To give partial shade to 

 a patch of artificial grass on a tearace I formed a 

 canopy with a very viaorous Buddleia madagascari- 

 ensis. I have been obliged to thin it out, for the 

 grass would not grow underneath as it would have 

 done in England. Tliis tVict is general, I believe, iu 

 the South of France and in all countries win re the 

 sun is ardent and the air dry. Light is broken aud 

 more diffused in nortneu regions with a cloudy skv. 



Date Palms seem to thrive best in sandy, granitic, 

 schistic suils. but in the proximity of calcareous rocks 

 or disintegrated calcareous soils, at least it has so 

 seemerl to me. The sands of the oases of Sahara lie 

 on calcareous rocks, and are nateied by rain fall ng 

 on calcareous n.ountains. At Bordighera, on the 

 Kiviera coast, where these Palms grow in great lu.xu- 

 riance, the soil is principally sand, brought down by 

 the Roya river from granitic mountains, but this sand 

 lies on calateons rock. In my garden the soil is 

 entirely calcareous, but with plenty of water, as I 

 have said. Palm? grow rapidly. The deduction from 

 the above facts is that lime aud salt might be advant- 

 ageously introduced in th" artificial cultivation of the 

 Dale Palm, and perhaps of other Palms, anil that in 

 their period of summer growth they cannot have too 

 much water. 



In conclusion, I would add that I have at home at 

 We> bridge a dozpn Palms — Phoenix daotylifera, Phoenix 

 palmetto, Chamoerops humilis, and Livistcna australi- — 

 which I imported from Algeria ten years ago, and 

 which have ever since then passed the four summer 

 months m the garden, plunged iu the poil. They 

 are planted iu the long cylindrical pots I introduced 

 some yers agj (30 inches deep), now known as Palm- 

 pots. They are at present fine large plants, and pass 

 the winter iu an unused washhouse throut:h which 

 passess e brick flue from a stove. The temperature 

 has generally been between 40° and 50° Fahr. In 

 summer we water th^m freely, and they are very 

 ornamental iu my garden. I |iut tliem out June 1, 

 and take them in October 1. My gardener generally 

 gets the prize for Palms when he exhibits in the local 

 flower shows in competition with regularly stove- 

 grown Palms, and my example proves that the hardy 

 Palms might be much more utilised out-of-doors in 

 summer than they usually are. The position of my 

 Weybridge garden is by no means exceptional. We 

 are very liable to late frosts iu spring and to early 

 frosts in winter. But a few degrees of frost does not 

 iuconvt-nieuoe the Date Palm iu the least. He lia- lo 

 b''ar it wherever he grows. According to (anon 

 Trist im (77ii' Sahara) boar frosts are frequently seen 

 at sunrise iu the o.ises of the desert Ourin;; the 

 winter. — Hexky Bfnket, M. D., Mtntone, March 7. — 

 Gardeners' C/ironick. 



«■ 



Tu£ Fu.'^'CTioN OF LiMR IN Germinatino Seeds. — 

 Dr. Lfbeiiberg has recently |iul>ushed, iu the orgMn 

 of the Vitnui Academy of Sciences, thi' results of 

 some researches on the part jdayed by lime in the 

 gerinin-iti3u i^f seeds, from which it apptars that there 

 is a f:reat number of plants of which the seeds require 

 lime during gemiination, or the young plnuts die off 

 from want of it. On tlie other hand there are plants 

 that do n't need tliis supjdy of lime in germination. 

 Dr.L iebenberg furthur ol serves that the plants tiiat 

 die uflf iu consequence of an insufficient supply of lime, 

 do not die from the injurious effects of the solutions 

 devoid of lime, but because lime is requirerl in the 

 nutrition of the plant. The author, however, was 

 unable 10 determine with certainty the purpose of lime 

 iu plants, thouth he proved beyond duubt that 'he 

 absence of it did not affect the formation of starch. — 

 Oarckners' Chronicle, 



