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THE WILD DATE PALM OF INDIA. 



extracting sugar, viz. the Beta vulgaris and tlie Saccharum officinarum, 

 require for their development a great amount of substances from the 

 soil in which they grow, whence it follows that their culture exhausts 

 the soil. But this is not the only evil ; what is worse is, that the 

 space now occupied by beetroots in Europe, and by sugar-cane 

 between the tropics, might and ought to serve for the culture of 

 wheat or of forage in Europe, and for rice under the tropics ; and it 

 is my opinion that, considering the increase of population, the 

 time is not far distant when it mil be absolutely necessary to devote 

 to the culture of wheat or rice the lands now employed for beetroot 

 or cane. While the cane and beetroot require a soil fit for cereals, 

 the Aren palm prospers on soils entirely unfit for their culture, so 

 unfit, indeed, that one might try in vain to grow on them rice or 

 cereals ; the Aren palm thrives in the profound valleys of Java, and 

 in some parts of the island extends from the shores of the sea to the 

 interior, where the tree is found in groups, and it is very possible to 

 make rich plantations of that fine tree. There is one drawback, but 

 not a very serious one ; the tree must be eleven or twelve years old 

 before it will yield sugar. When, however, it commences, the opera- 

 tion can be repeated during several years, and the preparation of the 

 sugar becomes a continuous industry, and not an interrupted one, as 

 it is now. According to my average, a field of thirty ares (J acre) 

 planted with those trees should produce yearly 2400 kilogrammes 

 of sugar in a soil quite unfit for any other kind of culture." 



Like the true sago palm, the Gomuti affords a medullary matter 

 from which a farina is prepared. In Java it is the only source of 

 this substance, which in the western and poorer part of the island is 

 used in considerable quantity and offered for sale in all the markets. 

 It is smaller in quantity than the pith of the true sago tree, more 

 difficult to extract, and inferior in quality ; having a certain peculiar 

 flavour from which the farina of the true sago is free. Dr. Rox- 

 burgh observes, " I cannot avoid recommending to everyone who 

 possesses land in India, particularly such as is low and near the coasts, 

 to extend the cultivation of this useful and elegant palm as much as 

 possible. The wine itself and the sugar it yields, the black fibres for 

 cables and cordages, and the pith for sago, independent of many other 

 uses, are objects of very great importance. From observations made 

 in the Botanic Garden at Calcutta, well- grown thriving trees produce 

 about six leaves annually, and each leaf yields from 8 to 16 ounces 

 of the clean fibre. They are in blossom all the year ; one lately cut 

 down yielded about 150 lbs. of good sago meal." 



The interior of the small fruit are prepared and extensively used 

 as sweetmeats by the Chinese in Sumatra. 



The Wild Date Palm or India. — The following paper, on " The 

 Manufacture'of Date Sugar," is by Mr. S. H. Robinson, of Calcutta. 



Phoenix, the genus to which the date palm belongs, comprises nine 

 known species, of which six are indigenous in India, and are distin- 

 guished as: 1, acaulis ; 2, dactylifera; 3, imsilla ; 4, farinifera ; 5, 

 sylvestris ; 6, paludosa. Of these No. 4 produces sago of an inferior 

 quality ; and the leaves of all the species furnish materials for mats 



