I 



THK C\NADIAN HORTTCUT/rURIST. 



179 



The gathering of the dates takes 

 place in autumn, two or three times, 

 and is over in three months. They are 

 divided into three sorts according to 

 their state of maturity. Exposed to 

 the sun upon mats they become at first 

 soft, then fill with a juicy p dp, then 

 thicken and are no longer liable to 

 change. The best dates come from 

 Africa by the way of Tunis ; they are 

 as large as a finger and of an oi-ange 

 hue ; their flesh is solid, vinous in taste, 

 sweet, and somewhat viscous ; they 

 contain a nutritive principle helpful to 

 horses, used on long journeys, and also 

 useful in fattening cattle. The fruit is 

 softened by boiling in water, and goat's 

 milk is added. The Arabs in their 

 pilgrimages across the deseit make a 

 S[)ecies of bread from them, and use 

 the pulp, extracted by pressure in 

 e^irthenware colanders, for butter and 

 sugar. 



The fruit of the date tree contains 

 mucilage, a gum similar to gum arable, 

 albumen, crystalliaible sugar (cane 

 sugar), parenchyma, pectose, citiic and 

 tartaric acids, coumarin, and water. 



All parts of the date tre ; are used ; 

 the young branches recently cut furnish 

 a milk which is both healthful and 

 agreeable ; this milk or sap when fer- 

 mented affords an alcoholic drink named 

 lakhhy, or palm wine. Crushed dates 

 with water also afford after fermenta- 

 tion the fcame decoction. Frequently 

 the bark and fibrous poitions of the 

 young s])iouts are removed t ) obtain 

 the white substance within, which is 

 ♦Miteu ; the young leaves and the male 

 flowers are also eat( n when seasoned 

 with citron juice, or arranged ao a palm 

 Kalad it forms a ])alatable dish. Tlie 

 Chinese use the date nuts in their 

 writing and ])rinting inks, and also as 

 u dentifrice. The dried leaves are also 

 used to make carpets and various other 

 objt'cts even in construction. — Journal 

 d' Hygiene. 



SORGHUM. 



Sorghum has become to some degree 

 a sort of by-word, for though largely 

 cultivated in the Western and North- 

 western States, and producing annnally 

 a return worth about $8,000, 000, still 

 it has confessedly failed to do what was 

 expected of it. Somewhere about thirty 

 years ago the Chinese variety of the 

 plant (the varieties are numerous) was 

 introduced into this country, and the 

 excitement in relation to it was not 

 small. Its sugar producing qualities 

 were extolled above measure : our sugar 

 trade was to be revolutionized, so to 

 speak ; every farmei- was to have a 

 little mill, and a little kettle, and he 

 was not only to boil out his own sugai-, 

 but to su{)ply his less fortunate neigh- 

 bors. 



Some way, however, things did not 

 seem to work right. The sugar no 

 doubt was in the sorghum cane, for 

 when its juice was boiled down a sweet 

 syrup was obtained, but there the de- 

 monstration stopped. The sugar was 

 in the syrup, but it most persistently 

 refused to come out of the syrup ; it 

 could not be induced to crystallize ; 

 and though the syrup had a certain 

 degree of value, yet it was not the thing 

 wanted, and in the disappointment the 

 popular feeling swung round to the \m 

 just judgment of condemning sorghum, 

 simply because it had been the victim 

 of ignorance and mismanagement. Re- 

 cent researches however have done 

 much toward explaining and removing 

 the difficulties which have been in the 

 way of successfully crystallizing the 

 sugar from the juice of the sorghum. 



Part of this has been accomplished 

 by work in the laboratory and part by 

 work in the field, the mill, the boiling 

 house, etc. The report pre.*<ented by a 

 committee of the National Academy of 

 Sciences in 1882, has just been pub- 

 lished as a Senate document. It is 

 entitled, "Investigation of the Scientific 



