108 THE DATE PALM. 



79. In our researches in date culture in the Punjab we 



have, as one would expect from previous remarks, 

 ^ n X dlt a e" et1 ' come across a very large number of varieties of 



fruits. These are sometimes known by distinct 

 names and sometimes several varieties, which nearly resemble 

 each other, are grouped under one name. By far the greater num- 

 ber of date trees, grown by the people of the Punjab, bear dates of 

 very poor quality. The groves which contain the best dates 

 are at Alipur North in Muzaffargarh district ; at Shershah, 

 Mailsi, and Multan, in the Multan district ; and near the old 

 city of Dera Ghazi Khan in Dera Ghazi Khan district. A few 

 isolated trees bearing dates above the average quality are to be 

 found at various other places in the province. Even in the 

 best plantations it is very difficult, however, to collect any 

 considerable quantity of date fruits of exactly the same quality 

 owing to most of the trees having been reared from seeds. A 

 very large percentage of the trees bearing the best fruits are 

 unfortunately past the age when they give off suckers, and 

 therefore no suckers are available now to reproduce these trees. 



80. That by far the. greater number of date trees growing 



even on the western side of the Punjab bear 



Why many of the 



dates growing in the dates ot an extremely poor quality does not 

 Punjab are so very appear to be the fault of the soil or the climate, 

 as there are numbers of trees in the province 

 which bear dates of comparatively good quality growing side by 

 side with trees bearing inferior dates : also where off-shoots from 

 female trees bearing good fruits have been removed and planted in 

 districts suitable for date-growing, they have produced good fruits 

 there. The reason that so many inferior trees are growing in the 

 Punjab, therefore, appears to be that the majority of them have 

 been grown from seeds (see also paras. 61 and 62, pages 94 and 95). 



As it is very easy to scatter a large number of seeds where 

 a date plant is required, and as seedlings are extremely hardy 

 and a few plants usually struggle up and establish themselves 

 without receiving any attention, this habit of replacing date 

 trees by seedlings instead of by off -shoots is probably partly due 



