AND AGRICULTURAL CAPABILITIES. 59 



wheat, or 45 acres of potatoes, its value and importance will be readily 

 acknowledged. As tLis plant is a great feeder, and when once planted 

 lasts for a lifetime, it is of the utmost importance that plantings should 

 be made upon strong rich soil, or that the plants be kept highly manured, 

 to secure permanent supplies of the best fruit. In Brazil and other 

 tropical countries plantations are formed by setting the plants 20 feet 

 apart; but as the kinds usually planted in those countries are of a larger 

 species than those recommended for Northern Florida, plants of the 

 Musa paradisiaca cacendishii variety should be set 10 feet apart each 

 way, and in a good soil they will soon cover the ground, as they increase 

 rapidly under favorable circumstances. Each plant produces one, and 

 only one, bunch of bananas, when it is cut down with a sharp spade 

 or ax to give place to succeeding plants. 



When the enormous yield of this fruit is considered, and the fact 

 taken into account that when once properly planted it needs no other 

 attention than simply gathering the fruit, the demand for which is 

 almost unlimited, it is evident that its cultivation could be made very 

 profitable. 



DATE PALM. 



The date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) is an excellent and valuable fruit, 

 and is cultivated with entire success south of 28 north latitude, and 

 the tree often perfects its fruit as far north as 30 north latitude. Nu- 

 merous large and beautiful specimens of this tree may be seen in the 

 gardens at Saint Augustine. It is one of the most beautiful trees of the 

 vegetable kingdom. Its long, graceful, ever verdant, ever- waving, ever- 

 changing branches make it the most picturesque of all others for land- 

 scape gardening, and should adorn the grounds of every homestead in 

 Florida. 



The fruit is greatly and justly esteemed by the inhabitants of Egypt, 

 Arabia, and Persia on account of its concentrated and nutritious prop- 

 erties; large numbers subsist almost entirely upon it. It is generally 

 the sole food of the Arabs and their camels in their long and tedious 

 journeys over the desert, the voyagers feeding upon the fruit and the 

 animals upon the stories. The inhabitants of these countries also boast 

 of the medicinal qualities of the date fruit, and of the numerous uses to 

 which the different productions of this tree may be applied. From the 

 leaves they make couches, "baskets, bags, mats, and brushes ; from the 

 branches or stalks, cages for their poultry and fences for their gardens; 

 from the fibers of the trunk, thread, ropes, and rigging; from the sap, a 

 spirituous liquor, and the body of the tree furnishes fuel. The date palm 

 is propagated from the seeds and suckers, but more successfully from 

 the former. The cultivation of this fruit should be greatly extended, as 

 it may become an important and profitable resource of the inhabitants 

 of Southern Florida. The bunches or clusters of this fruit often attain 

 a weight of 15 pounds. 



