252 



THE WILD DATE PALM OF INDIA. 



Sunderbunds, we shall find a space of about 100 miles long, by 80 

 broad, and comprebending tbe district of Jessore, witb portions of 

 Furreedpore, Nuddea, and Burrisaul, to wbicb the product of date 

 sugar is mainly confined, although the goor — or the first raw produce 

 made by boiling down the juice — is found commonly manufactured 

 for native consumption on the spot, in many localities situated beyond 

 these assumed limits. 



Throughout the present date tract, the quantity and quality of the 

 sugar produced vary considerably. The high and dry lands of parts 

 of Kishnaghur and Pubna yield a strong well-crystallized product, 

 though less in quantity than from trees of the Jessore and Sunder- 

 bunds soils ; in which, -with a more rapid growth of the tree and a 

 greater flow of sap, a less rich, though still good and grainy sugar is 

 produced. The cultivation in these districts is accompanied by a 

 great advantage, in the cheap and abundant sujijjly of fuel for boiling 

 the juice and refining the sugar ; and there is probably no part of 

 Bengal where the cultivation may be extended, with more profit than 

 in the more elevated lands of the Sunderbund grants. 



The young plants are raised from seed sown during the rains, and 

 are ready for planting out in the following April or May, after the 

 first showers of the season have moistened the ground sufficiently. 

 Before the date sugars became important as a staple for export, and 

 the cultivation extended, the trees were seldom seen planted elsewhere 

 than along the hedge-rows or boundaries of the fields, or on other 

 spots where they did not interfere with the growth of cereals or other 

 field crops. Gradually as date produce became more valuable, sys- 

 tematic plantations appeared, and fields were set with trees ten and 

 fifteen feet apart, but without much regard to order or regularity of 

 distance. After planting, no manuring or further expense was in- 

 curred, except, perhaps, in supplying fresh plants in place of those 

 destroyed by cattle. 



The spaces between the trees are generally occupied by oil-seeds or 

 other dry-weather crops, and thus the cost of a native plantation is 

 reduced, whilst the trees benefit by the ploughing, which loosens the 

 earth, and the ground is kept free from weeds. 



At the expiry of the fifth year from the planting of the young tree 

 in the field, it is ready to be tapped for its juice. This is the average 

 time allowed, though it may be varied a year sooner or later by the 

 diflerence of soil and climate. The first year a young tree is tapped, 

 it is reckoned to yield only half the usual quantity of juice produced 

 by a full-grown tree ; in the second year of tapping it is reckoned to 

 yield three-fourths of full average quantity ; and it is not till the 

 third year of bearing that it is considered as in full yield. 



The process of tapping and extracting the juice commences about 

 the 1st of November. Some days previously the lower leaves of the 

 crown are stripped off all round, and a few extra leaves from the side 

 of the tree intended to be tapped. On the part thus denuded a 

 triangular incision is made with a knife about an inch deep, so as to 

 penetrate through the cortex, and divide the sap vessels ; each side 

 of the triangle measuring about six inches, with one point downwards, 

 in which is inserted a piece of grooved bamboo, along which the sap 



