THE DATE PALM. 



287 



higher price in the markets of Europe. Several Parisian merchants 

 within the last few years have given importance to this trade, by- 

 proceeding each year to the seat of production in Algeria, and pre- 

 paring on the spot, by special modes, large quantities of dates, for 

 France, which replace with advantage those formerly procured from 

 Tunis and Egypt. The region of Ziban, to the south of the province 

 of Constantino, is the part of Algeria where the culture of the date 

 occupies the largest surface, is carried on with the greatest care, and 

 where the fruit is of the best quality. This region includes nineteen 

 oases, of which Biskra is the principal. Laghouat, in the province of 

 Alger, is another centre of production. Algeria might take a con- 

 siderable part in this commerce by direct communication with 

 England, or through Marseilles, of the dates of Laghouat and of 

 Constantino, a large part of which are sent from Tunis. 



The principal production of Touggort, Soub, and the oasis in French 

 territory, is the date, and there are about 124,300 palms subject to 

 taxation, but the total number is nearly double that. Each tree yields 

 about 4s. return yearly to its owner. Estimating the average yield 

 per tree at 100 lbs., there would be a total product of 62,150 cwt. per 

 annum. There are two qualities of dates produced, the Deglet nour, 

 the best, which sells at 30 francs the cwt., and the Ghars, or ordinary, 

 at 20 francs. 



In Goleah, in the Great Desert, there are about 16,000 date palms, 

 of which 14,000 are in full bearing. 



The best trees are those produced from slipped plants. Those 

 raised from seeds are much longer in arriving at maturity, and are 

 generally poor. When the slip, taken from the foot of the stem of 

 an adult tree, is first planted, it must be watered daily for six weeks, 

 and every other day for the next six weeks ; after which the trees are 

 watered once a week in summer, and every month in winter. 



The nut does not commence to germinate under six months or a 

 year after planting, and the growth is very slow in the first two 

 years. In a favourable situation it will begin to fruit at six years, 

 and lasts to seventy years or more. 



The tree commences to yield fruit about five or six years after 

 planting: but it is not till after twenty or twenty-five years that 

 it comes into full bearing, and then it will endure for about one 

 hundred and fifty years. A date tree in full bearing will produce 

 eight or ten bunches, each containing 12 to 20 lbs, of fruit, which, 

 at an average of 144 lbs. of dates per tree, is at the rate of 14,400 lbs. 

 per hectare (2^ acres).* 



Although there are so many varieties of the date differing in size, 

 form, and quality of the fruit, they may chiefly be divided by colour 

 into three classes, red, yellow, and whitish. 



The dates, after having been gathered, are dried in the sun, and, 

 when quite hard, sometimes buried in the sand. They may thus be 

 preserved about two years ; but generally after eighteen months they 

 are attacked by worms, and in the beginning of the third year nothing 

 remains of them save the stones. As an every-day food, dates are 



* Hardy, " On the Culture of the Date in Algeria," ' Bulletin of the Society of 

 Acclimatisation,' Paris, vol. v. p. 63. 



