64 NUTRITIVE PLANTS* 



Though the date-tree grows every where indiscriminately on the 

 northern coasts of Africa, it is not cultivated with care, except be- 

 yond mount Atlas; because the heat is not sufficiently powerful 

 along the coasts to bring the fruit to proper maturity. -We shall 

 here extract some observations from M. Des Fontaines respecting 

 the manner of cultivating it in Barbary, and on the different uses to 

 which it is applied. All that part of the Zaara, which is near 

 Mount Atlas, and the only part of this vast desert which is inha- 

 bited, produces very little corn ; the soil being sandy, and burnt up 

 by the sun, is almost entirely unfit for the cultivation of grain, its 

 only productions of that kind being a little barley, maize, and 

 sorgo. The date.tree, however, supplies the deficiency of corn to 

 the inhabitants of these countries, and furnishes them with almost 

 the whole of their subsistence. They have flocks of sheep ; but as 

 they are not numerous, they preserve them for the sake of their 

 wool ; besides, the flesh of these animals is very unwholesome food 

 in those countries that are excessively warm; and these people, 

 though ignorant, have probably been enabled by experience to know 

 that it was salutary for them to abstain from it. The date-trees 

 are planted without any order, at the distance of 12 feet one from 

 the other, in the neighbourhood of rivulets and streams, which issue 

 from the sand. Forests of them may be seen here and there, some 



of which are several leagues in circumference* The extent of these 



plantations depends upon the quantity of water which can be pro- 

 cured to water them, for they require much moisture. All these 

 forests are intermixed with orange, almond, and pomegranate trees, 

 and with vines which twist round the trunk of the date- trees; and 

 the heat is strong enough to ripen the fruit, though they are never 

 exposed to the sun. 



It is generally in winter that new plantations of this tree are form- 

 ed. For this purpose those who cultivate them take shoots of those 

 which produce the best dates, and plant them at a small distance 

 one from the other. At the end of three or four years, these shoots, 

 if they had been properly taken care of, begin to bear fruit : but 

 this fruit is as yet dry, without sweetness, and even without kernels ; 

 they never reach the highest degree of perfection of which they are 

 susceptible till they are about 15 or 20 years old. 



These plants are, however, producible from the seeds taken out of 

 the fruit, provided they are fresh. They should be sown in pot* 



