1884.] THE DATE PALM. Ill 



profitably put to ! As a manure, they are a good material ; as an 

 absorbent in the barn, well adapted ; as a retainer of heat, mixed 

 with hot-bed manure, nothing is more suitable ; as a protector from 

 frost, I can find nothing better for covering celery, beets, and other 

 roots, when kept in pits ; as a suitable material for banking up 

 against the outside wall of the cellar, more frost, with less bulk, can 

 be kept out than with anything else ; as a mould, when decayed 

 sufficiently and mixed with sandy loam, no better plant food can be 

 obtained for a large proportion of our greenhouse plants. No 

 garden can be considered complete without a good large heap of 

 decomposing leaves. By collecting and adding every year, well- 

 rotted material can be had on hand at all times for mixing with 

 potting soil, and for using in hot-lDeds. I keep my celery in trenches 

 dug in a part of the garden where the water can pass off freely. 

 After setting the trench full of celery, I put a thin sprinkling of 

 leaves over it, and allow it to remain in this condition until severe 

 frosts set in. When more material is necessary to keep out the 

 frost, I cover over with boards, so adjusted that they carry the water 

 off; then with a good covering of leaves, held in their place with 

 soil, boards, or any suitable article, that wind cannot blow off. 

 In this manner I kept celery last season in good condition until 

 April, having but very little waste from decay." 



THE DATE PALM. 



THE date, a dainty of our tables, forms a staple article of 

 food to thousands of tribes in the Sahara desert. The 

 parent tree has now become one of the familiar objects to our 

 soldiers engaged in the Egyptian campaign. Its fruit is a 

 necessity of Arab life. There are no fewer than 150 more or 

 less distinct varieties in cultivation. They may be roughly divided 

 into two classes, the fruit of one of which keeps well for a year, 

 whilst that of the other must be eaten while ripe. These varieties 

 also differ in the colour of their fruit, which varies from black to 

 white and golden yellow. The clusters also vary from eight to ten 

 or twelve. One of the sights in Upper Egypt, during spring, is to 

 see Arabs ascending the trunks of the female palm, by means of a 

 strap round their backs which they use as a lever, and carrying 



