256 



THE WILD DATE PALM OF INDIA. 



nature and easily yield to the plough, are better adapted than the low 

 and saline. 



The trees are planted in even rows seven or eight cubits apart in 

 order to allow sufficient space for intermediate ventilation and the 

 turning of the plough and ladder within the intervening space. The 

 ground is ploughed, and the soil around the tree is turned up with the 

 spade twice a year, as otherwise the overgrowth of the straw grass 

 (ulu) chokes up and kills the tender plants. The side leaves of the 

 plant are cut off every year in winter for the convenience of culti- 

 vating the gardens with cold- weather crops, which are generally sown 

 therein as long as the plants are young and their leaves short ; but 

 when they have spread out so much as to obstruct heat and light, the 

 cultivation of other crops is put off. The raising of these crops in the 

 date gardens, instead of interfering with the trees, is rather conducive 

 to their growth, as the soil is kept clean thereby and ulu grass (Sac- 

 charum cylindricum) kept back. In gardens where the trees are wide 

 apart, the aus dhan is cultivated, and an average crop is always 

 obtained. 



Inundations injure the trees when they are young ; for if the water 

 rises high, it deposits its loam on the tender head leaves, and thus 

 suffocates the plant to death. The fouler and higher the water, the 

 greater is the danger to the date tree. Young and robust trees 

 escape storms and cyclones scatheless, but the tall ones are many a 

 time and oft pressed down by the force of the wind, and although not 

 quite uprooted, placed permanently in a slanting position. There is 

 a kind of larva called maira or hora, which destroys the plant in 

 large numbers by boring out the heads and eating up the top leaves. 



When seven or eight years of age, the tree is fit for yielding the 

 sap. Ordinarily the east or west side of the tree, being better exposed 

 to the influence of the sun, is chosen for tapping ; but in some cases 

 the north and south sides are also taken up if more convenient for the 

 purpose of ascent and descent. The position and bend of the tree, 

 as well as its accessibility to the climber, determine the side on which 

 the first cutting is to be made. If it stands at an acute angle with the 

 surface of the soil, the side uppermost is subjected to the paring 

 knife. Sometimes a tree in which the first parings were east and west 

 has its subsequent cuttings gradually brought round to north and 

 south, if it has been beaten down by a cyclone. The tapping con- 

 tinues on from year to year until the head of the tree presents a 

 withered and half-dead appearance. In three trees I counted as many 

 as forty-two, forty-three, and forty-four alternate notches, thus show- 

 ing that they had been continually tapped for those long series of 

 years, and they appeared still capable of being subjected to that pro- 

 cess for two or three years more. When on these high and tall trees 

 the head is no longer erect in position, the tapping must cease. 



The implements used in cutting the tree are (1) the gachua dao, 

 a sharp and broad instrument with which the paring is made ; (2) the 

 holach or goatskin cover which the gacM or cutter fits to his waist in 

 order to prevent friction of the rope, (3), called dara, with which he 

 attaches himself to the tree as he climbs up ; (4) the tliungi or narrow 

 wicker basket hanging from his waist like a quiver and intended to 



