372 Select Plants for Industrial Culture and 



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 pro- 

 duction 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 ; he states that in Arabia the Date- 

 Palm grows even in soil strongly impregnated with salt. See also 

 the author's remarks in the Transact. Viet. Inst. ii, 95 (1857). The 

 best dates are grown in oases, where fresh water gushes from the 

 ground in abundance and spreads over light soil of deserts subject to 

 burning winds. The variety " Datheres-sifia " ripens its fruits early 

 in the season [Naudin]. It is propagated from suckers. The 

 Zadie-variety produces the heaviest crop, averaging 300 Ibs. to the 

 tree ; superior varieties can only be continued from offshoots of the 

 root ; these will commence to bear in five years and be in full bearing 

 in ten years ; one male tree is considered sufficient for half a hundred 

 females. The pollen-dust is sparingly applied by artificial means. 

 The pulpy part of the fruit contains about 58 per cent, of saccharine 

 matter. It is estimated, that in Egypt alone four millions of date- 

 palms exist, the produce of which is to a large extent consumed 

 locally. The date-groves of Turkey produce annually 40,000 to 

 60,000 tons of dates in ordinarily good seasons [Le Due]. The 

 date-palm will luxuriate even in saltish soil, and the water for its 

 irrigation may be slightly brackish [Surgeon-Major Colvill]. The 

 artesian water of the Oued Rir district in Algeria contains from 

 0'57 ounces to 1*07 ounces dry salt in a gallon [Holland]. The 

 date-palm is the staple plant on the new oases created by artesian 



