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palm sap may refer to Mr. H. E. Annett's most interesting experi- 

 ments on the wild date palm (Phcenix sylvestris) and other plants 

 in his " Investigations into the Date Sugar Industry in Bengal 5: 

 (see Memoirs of the Department of Agriculture in India, Chemical 

 Series, Vol. II, No. 6, March, 1913). It should be remembered that 

 it is the wild date palm (Phcenix sylvestris} that he has carried out 

 his investigations on, not the date palm (Phcenix dactylifera) cul- 

 tivated for its fruits, and which we have here. The two plants are 

 so nearly related, however, that botanists have not yet recorded 

 a very clear difference between them. For the convenience of 

 those interested, a few remarks may be quoted here from Mr. 

 Annett's work. Mr. Annett reckons that a plantation farmed, for 

 sugar made from the palm sap comes into bearing five to six years 

 after planting and that it goes on bearing for fully 25 years 

 (Annett, page 380) ; that the average yield of juice per tree per 

 season in Bengal is 170 Ib. (Annett, page 351) ; that 22| Ib. 

 of gur are got from that amount of juice (Annett, page 351) ; 

 and that the gur sells at Rs. 2-8-0 per maund (82 Ib.) (Annett, 

 page 379). This would give about Re. 0-1 1 -0 gross income per tree. 

 He reckons the tapping season as extending from the second week 

 of November to first week of March (Annett, page 324) ; and that 

 two tappers and one assistant coolie would manage the work 

 connected with gur -making from 350 trees (Annett, page 379). 

 A tree is tapped something like 40 to 50 times during the tapping 

 season. To get at the net profits, the wages of these men for the 

 2J months of the tapping season, the cost of fuel for boiling 

 the gur, and other expenses to be incurred would have to be 

 deducted. 



We have seen that Phcenix dactylifera here will yield at 

 least 12 seers (24f Ib.) of fruits, value Re. 0-1-0 per Ib., i.e., a gross 

 income of Re. 1-8 approx. per tree, and that the expenses connec- 

 ted with fruit-farming are much less than those which must be 

 connected with gur-making, therefore gur-making could not be 

 considered, where good fruits can be grown, if each tree did not 

 yield several multiples of the weight of gur which Phcenix sylves- 

 tris does in Bengal. 



