DATE PALM AND CHAM^EROPS. 



It is remarkable that although the dates do not 

 ripen in this district, yet the seeds will sometimes 

 germinate in favourable spots. At Elche, near 

 Alicante, in Valencia, five degrees farther south, the 



Fig. 2. LANDSCAPE WITH DATE PALM. 



fruit is said to ripen. The Date groves there number 

 about a hundred thousand trees. But the home of this 

 Palm, the " Date Country," as it is called, lies to the 

 south of the Atlas range, stretching between Morocco 

 and Tunis. The origin of- the tree is not known. 



lA 



