THE PALMS OF BRITISH INDIA AND CEYLON. 355 



has been made to promote the manufacture of sugar in the Central 

 Provinces ; a company has already been formed under the name of 

 the " Khandwa Sugar Manufacturing Company." 



From the leaves bags, basket-work, brooms, fans, etc., are made. 

 The footstalks, after being beaten, are converted into ropes 

 for drawing water from wells. The fibres are plentiful, soft, 

 bleach well, and are very well adapted for the use of paper- 

 makers. 



From the tree a gum is obtained, of which very little is known. 

 The fruit is of an inferior kind and only eaten by the poorer 

 classes, or used as medicine. Pounded and mixed with almonds, 

 quince seeds, pistachio nuts, spices, and sugar it forms a restora- 

 tive. A paste formed of the kernels and the root of Aclvyrantlies 

 aspera, is eaten with betel leaves as a remedy for ague. 



Cultivation in India. — " The soil required for this palm is rich 

 alluvial or black with moving water at about 10 feet from the sur- 

 face or with irrigation and thorough under-ground drainage from 

 a bed of gravel not less than 6 feet below the surface. The seeds 

 should be sown when quite fresh, without removing the pulp, on 

 a bed of rich loam dressed heavily with leaf-mould. When 

 G inches high the little plants should be put out 18 inches apart 

 in carefully prepared nursery beds, and grown carefully till 4 feet 

 high, then transplanted to their permanent quarters, which may 

 be in lines 30 feet apart, with 20 feet between each tree in the 

 line. The ground should then be kept under irrigated crops for 

 two years to get the young trees established." (WoodroAv). 



Illustration. — Plate II. The photograph, supplied by Mr. 

 Phipson, shows a fine specimen of Phoenix sylvestris growing on 

 the Hanging Gardens, Malabar Hill, Bombay. The dense, almost 

 spherical crown, with the gracefully bending leaves at once 

 distinguishes this species from the real Date Palm (P. dactylifera). 

 The lower part of the stem is covered with ferns and other vegeta- 

 tion. As the stem, however, is the same throughout, i.e., covered 

 by the persistent bases of the leaf-stalks, the imagination can 

 easily supply the hidden part of the trunk. 



Plate III. The photograph shows a small group of Wild Date 

 Palms with their natural surroundings. It is a scene on the 

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