336 Select Plants for Industrial Culture and 



Phoenix Canariensis, Naudin. (P. Jubae, Webb.) 



Canary-Islands. A superb palm for scenic culture, hardier than 

 even the Date-palm. Fruit not edible. 



Phoenix dactylifera, Linne.* 



The Date-Palm. North- Africa, particularly inland ; Arabia, 

 Persia. This noble palm attains finally a height of about 80, 

 feet, exceptionally 120 feet. " Trees of from 100 to 200 years old con- 

 tinue to produce their annual crop of dates," though gradually at 

 very advanced age in lesser quantity. Should be raised in the 

 oases of the Australian desert million-fold. Bears fruits in sub- 

 tropic Eastern- Australia in particular abundance. Though sugar 

 or palm- wine can be obtained from the sap, and hats, mats and 

 similar articles can be manufactured from the leaves, we would 

 utilise this palm beyond scenic garden-ornamentation only for its 

 fruits. The date-palm would afford in time to come a real boon in 

 the oases of desert-tracts, swept by burning winds, although it 

 might be grown also in the valleys of mountains and in any part of 

 lowlands free of severe frost. Several bunches of flowers are 

 formed in a season, each producing often as many as 200 dates. 

 Staminate and pistillate flowers rarely on the same plant. In 

 Egypt as many as 4 cwt. of dates have been harvested in one 

 season from a single date-palm. Many varieties of dates exist, 

 differing in shape, size and colour of the fruit ; those of Gomera are 

 large and contain no seed. The best Algerian variety is known as 

 " Deglet nour." Select trees are recorded as having borne a crop 

 worth 2, but the average may be put down at four shillings per 

 tree annually, common kinds less than one shilling. A good date- 

 tree is sometimes exchanged for a camel in North-Africa. 80 

 trees to an acre is considered the most suitable number. The 

 neighbourhood of the sea is unfavorable to the production of good 

 dates [M. G. Holland, Hon. G. W. Cotton]. The unexpanded 

 flower-bunches can be used for palm- cabbage and the fibre of the 

 leaf-stalks for cordage. The town Elche, in Spain, is surrounded 

 by a planted forest of about 80,000 date-palms, and the sale of 

 leaves for decorative purposes produces a considerable income to 

 the town, irrespective of the value of the date-fruits ; and so it is 

 at Alicante. As far north as the Gulf of Genoa also a date-forest 

 exists. The ease, with which this palm grows from seeds, affords 

 facilities in adapted climes to imitate these examples, and we 

 certainly ought to follow them in all parts of Australia and in 

 similar climes. Young plants might readily be taken by tourists 

 to forest-glens for naturalisation. The date-palm bears well in 

 Southern California and Arizona [Prof. Hilgard]. Dates, as a 

 nourishing, wholesome and readily preserved kind of fruit, should 

 be in the commissariat of exploring expeditions, particularly 

 through mild or hot countries, as the seeds could be sown, for thus 

 early raising this important palm in new regions. Dr. Bonavia is 

 the principal champion for extensive date-culture in India. See 



