PART IV. 



THE AGRICULTURE OF THE DATE PALM. 



The Date Palm, Phoenix sylvestris, grows well over the greater 

 part of India but it is mainly in Bengal and Mysore that it is cul- 

 tivated for sugar production. Large natural forests occur in Cen- 

 tral India and H. D. Chatterjee 1 is experimenting on date sugar 

 production in those tracts. 



Area. In Bengal the total area under its cultivation is put at 

 150 square miles, 30 square miles of this being in the Jessore district 

 alone. 2 



The industry is chiefly confined to the districts of Jessore, 

 Khulna, Nuddea, Faridpur, Backerganj and 24-Parganas. 



Soil. Kanjilal 3 says that the wild date prefers humid alluvial 

 soils and a moist climate, and further that it is extremely sensitive 

 to shade and avoids clayey soils and water logging. 



Cultivation. The seeds, which are ripe in May, are sown in a 

 nursery in the rains. The young plants are ready for planting out 

 in the following April or May after the first showers of the season 

 have moistened the ground. Kanjilal 4 says they are planted nine 

 feet apart each way : that is 543 trees per acre. Robinson 5 says 

 ten feet apart which is equivalent to 441 trees per acre. 



Not much regard however seems to be paid to order or regu- 

 larity of distance apart of the trees. In the writer's observation 

 trees in plantations are set at any thing from 9 to 17 feet apart and 



1 Is it an experiment or a natural industry. Haridas Chatterjee. Central India Prers 



Mhow, 1901. 



2 Hunter's Imperial Gazetteer, Vol. VII, p. 187, 

 8 Indian Forester, December 1892, p. 451. 



4 Loc. cit. 



6 Prize Essay 1858. 



