THE DATE PALM. 



The inflorescences from which the fruits have been removed, 

 are used as brooms. Fibre from the spathe (sippe) is used for 

 making ropes. The dried spathes, leaves, etc., are used as fuel. 

 Articles made from parts of the date palm do not rot readily in 

 water, therefore, date ropes, etc., are much used in connection 

 with water lifts and such things. Samples of mats and baskets 

 from date leaflets and ropes made from date fibre are shown in 

 illustration No. 40 opposite. Those interested in such things, 

 however, should purchase small samples of these from Muzaf- 

 fargarh or Dera Ghazi Khan. The cost will be practically 

 nothing, and the articles will give a better idea of their suitability 

 for the purposes for which they are made than any description 

 could convey. 



90. I. have not seen any one in the Punjab tapping date 

 trees and making wine or sugar from the sap so 



Date toddy and 



sugar-making from collected, but 1 have seen this done elsewhere. 



the sap of the palm. . . . 



Indeed wine (palm toddy) extracting is practised 

 to some extent in almost all countries where dates are 

 cultivated. For wine or sugar-making, a V-shaped notch 

 is cut in the stem near the base of the gacha (young terminal 

 bud) and the juice is collected in pots. The empty pots are 

 usually smoked to delay fermentation and the juice is removed 

 from the pot after collecting it for about a day. If the sap is to 

 be used as wine, it is drunk before it ferments too far, and is liked 

 best when it is quite fresh from the tree. It usually sells for about 

 one anna per quart. If sugar is to be made, the juice is simply 

 boiled down at once to form gur (unpurified sugar) and is mostly 

 sold and used in that form. Tapping the trees for these purposes 

 prevents the trees from fruiting and is a very severe strain on the 

 plant. If roughly done it may kill the tree altogether. Where 

 tapping is much practised, however, the people become adepts 

 at it, and trees showing the scars of 20 years or more of succes- 

 sive tapping can be seen. Owing to want of staff we have 

 not been able to look into these points in the Punjab, but it is 

 hoped that they, with others awaiting investigation, may be 

 taken up soon. Meantime those interested in sugar-making from 



