310 



Other good varieties are cultivated in Egypt and along the 

 Persian G-ulf which present features of great value. 



The gathering, curing, and packing is of the simplest. Varieties 

 of the Deglet Noor type become, when ripe, self-candied on the trees. 

 They are either picked singly from the bunch as they ripen, or else 

 the whole bunch, weighing 10 to 20 pounds and even more, is cut 

 off when the majority of the dates show signs of ripening, and hung 

 up for a few days in a dry and shady place. The best fruit is 

 picked and arranged in layers in neat light boxes holding from one 

 to ten pounds. 



The syrupy sorts, such as the Rhars, are not so easily handled. 

 The Arabs hang up the bunches, and collect the sweet juice that 

 drains off, and which they call date honey, into jars ; the drier fruit 

 being subsequently packed tightly in boxes, skins, or straw bags, 

 and exported. 



From the foregoing it will be seen that the cultivation of the 

 date palm is one particularly suited to the arid regions of Western 

 Australia, where the summer is hot and long, and where water 

 even not of a particularly fresh description is often obtainable at a 

 shallow depth. 



A profitable market is within our reach in supplying the 

 requirements of Australia; but nothing but the best varieties should 

 be planted. 



The Forestry Department has in several instances supplied 

 exploring expeditions with a quantity of dates, the seeds of which 

 have been sown at soaks in the interior where water is found at the 

 surface ; but sufficient is known of the date to doubt whether the 

 trees which have issued from these seeds will equal in merit some of 

 the varieties mentioned. 



The local government of Algeria have 011 several occasions 

 generously assisted in procuring for other countries some of the 

 best dates grown within that province, and from that source con- 

 signments of suckers could well be drawn. It is important, should 

 such introduction be made, that these suckers be dipped into water 

 for a day on arrival, and then fumigated by means of hydrocyanic 

 acid gas, in order to destroy the date scales (Parlatoria victrix) , one 

 of the most troublesome pests of that useful tree. 



THE G-TTAVA (Psidium). 



One of the hardiest of all tropical fruits, its cultivation can, 

 in favourably situated places, be extended to semi-tropical regions ; 

 and in Western Australia it nourishes alongside the orange, the 

 apple, and the pear. In the cooler regions the Guava is easily kept 

 within bounds, whereas in the tropics birds and cattle freely dis- 



