5 88 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [March x, 1888. 
requires care and attention, and success will be the 
result. I have some papers on the subject, on which I 
cannot lay my hands just now." 
The Honorary Secretary doubts the likelihood of 
success, by either of the plans suggested by Dr. Shortt, 
but agrees with Mr. Gleeson, the Superintendent of 
the Gardens, that by patient enquiry and careful 
selection, trees may be found and propagated with the 
habit already established of fruiting not twice a 
year, but at unusual seasons, by which means fruits 
might possibly he obtained in nearly every month in 
the year. 
Surgeon General Bidie remarks, that, when at Colombo 
last year, during the Christmas Holiday, a basket of 
mangoes was brought to him, and on enquiry, he was 
informed that that was the season for Jaffna mangoes ; 
also that he has heard that the late Maharajah of 
Travancore succeeded in having mangoes every day 
of the year. 
, ♦■ 
DATE CULTIVATION IN INDIA. 
Dated London, the 4th July 1887. 
From Dr. E. Bona via, Brigade-Surgeon, Indian 
Medical Department (on leave), 
To the Secretary to the Government, N. TV, Province) 
and Oudh. 
Sm, — I have the honour to submit to the Govern- 
ment of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh, the 
following information regarding the date-palm. 
2. Convinced as I am that this useful tree, if largly 
introduced in India, would eventually be of great bene- 
fit to the people, I have collected information about it 
from all the countries where it is extensively grown. 
This information I now beg to place at the disposal of 
the Government of India. 
8. As there might still be some doubts in India whether 
seedling date-trees are of any value, I paid particular 
attention to this point in making inquiries. In a letter 
from Sir Li. Lambeit Playfair, Her Majesty's Consul- 
General for Algeria and Tunis, dated Algiers, the 11th 
January 1887, the following is stated : — '• From what 
you say, I have no doubt that off-sets could be sent to 
India without much difficulty ; but real]) there is very 
little necessity for making the experiment. Seeds are 
sure to germinate, and the experience of the Arabs here 
is, that the fruit of seedlings is quite as good as that 
of trees propagated by suckers. The only objection is, 
that there is the risk of obtaining an undue proportion 
of male trees." Then 0. Regnier in his "Observations 
sur le Palmier Dattier, et sur sa culture en Egypt," 
says : — " Seedlings sometimes produce bastard varieties. 
More frequently they perpetuate well-known varieties, 
at other times new kinds are raised, which are after- 
wards propagated by off-sets." 
4. The foregoing is good evidence of the value of 
seedling date-trees. We have, however, proof of it 
in India already. Before leavvng India on leave, I sent 
to the Director of the Royal Gardens at Kew, a fine 
collection of dates, solely from seedling trees grown 
in Oudh and Multan. They are now in the Eoonomic 
Museum at Kew. Moreover, what Sir Lambert Play- 
fair considers as a slight objection to raising seedling 
trees, I would consider an advantage at fiist for India. 
Fertilization of the female flowers by the pollen of the 
mal«s is not generally known yet in India. An excess 
of males among females would therefore ensure a crop, 
and would not disappoint the growers. In course of 
time India would possess fine varieties of date-trees, 
and then it could easily furnish its own off-sets of female 
trees, and fertilize them as they do in other countries. 
In addition, the great advantage of seed just now is, 
that they cost comparatively little to import, andean 
be made into fruit-trees with less trouble than off-sets, 
so that all the places in India where the date-tree can 
be grown with advantage maybe rapidly furnished with 
this important tree at small cost. 
.0. The following interesting extract about the date- 
tree is from a recent book called "Tunis: the Land 
and its People," by Chev. de Hesse Wartegg. I give 
i i in order to show what can be done with the date-tree. 
At chapter 13 page 278, he says : — "South Tunis — on 
both s.dcs of the largo salt marsh, Sebcha Pharaon, 
which latter reaches far into Algiers — is a beautiful 
country of palms, w hich is not surpassed by anything 
on the shores of the Nile. Thirty oases lie close to- 
gether in a row, and divide the desert land of the an- 
cient Numidia from the large salt lake, which is dry 
during nine months of the year. This palm rtgion par 
exeellmce., is known in Africa under the name of ' Beled- 
el-Djerid,' and no fruit is valued higher than the sweet 
large and jucy ' Djerid ' date, which also fetohes the 
highest prices in the European markets." At page 279 
he says: — " The slender stems of the palm trees, often 
reaching a height of 100 feet, display their transparent 
rustling canopy. The sun is a necessity to them, and 
while they rejoice in his burning rays, they keep the 
earth at their feet in cool shade, and thus aid the growth 
of the figs, oranges, lemons, almonds, olives, and pista- 
chio trees. The latter grow between and under the 
palms : the damp ground beneath being covered by the 
most luxuriant growth of herbs and grass. It is, there- 
fore, a threefold vegetation." At page 280 it is stated 
that "of these oases, Gaffa is the largest, and possesses 
a palm-forest of about 200,000 trees, and is inhabited 
by from 3,000 to 4,000 Arabs and Berbers. In the 
oases of ' El Gettar,' water is not nearly so plentiful, 
and camels raise it with difficulty from draw-wells ; 
but the date palm is here so exclusively the source 
of livelihosd of the few hundred inhabitants, that 
there is uo choice left to them, and they must get 
water at any price. In 'El Gettar' a palm-forest ex- 
tends over a tract of land three kilometers long, and 
the entiie region north of the ' Sebcha Pharaon' 
possesses no less than a million and-a-half of palm 
trees, which has many olive, orange, and almond trees 
growing between." Then south of the Great Shott 
" is the extensive district of the oases of Nefzani, with 
palm-forests of more than 300,000 trees, and with 
from 18,000 to 20,000 inhabitants, living in 40 
villages." 
6. The foregoing information is of some importance. 
It shows (a) that the date-tree flourishes in saline 
soils. It would, perhaps, be more accurate to say that 
some varieties of date-tree do so, as there are hundreds 
of kinds. There does net appear to be any doubt, 
however, that the " Djerid " date of Tunis is a very 
fine kind, and fetches a good price in the European 
markets, (b) It gives some idea of the population 
that can live almost exclusively on the produce of 
these date forests, bartering any surplus fruit for 
other commodities, (c) It shows that not only where 
water is near the surfoce can the date palm be grown, 
but also where water is obtained with great labour. 
(d) It shows that where date trees can be grown, and 
where water is easily obtained, there also oranges, 
lemons, and other fruit trees can be readily grown 
on a large scale under the shade ef these palms and 
between them. 
7. In India, both in Rajputaaa and in Simdh, on both 
sides of the Indus, the conditions are such, that if 
Arabs and Berbers had possession ef these tracts ef 
country, they would probably, in less than 60 years, 
turn them into gardens. 
8. In my investigations, nothing appears to be more 
clear than that there are two distinct classes of dates — 
(1) those that ripen on the tree, or soon after they are 
plucked, and are those whioh are met with in Euro- 
pean fruit-shops; and (2) those which do not ripen 
like the above (a raisinified date), but remain hard 
and crisp, and are either eaten in that condition, or 
cured in various ways. 
9. The following informatien, by Senor Don Maximo 
Laguna was courteously furnished by the Secretary 
to Her Majesty's Legation in MadriL — "The few 
varieties distinguished in Elche (Spain) are based on 
the character of the fruit. That which is most esteem- 
ed is the one producing the date called ' Candix.' This 
ripens and sweetens Oil the tree.- The others are of a 
yellower colour, harder, and with a smooth skin. In 
order that the latter may be fit to eat, it is necessary 
to smear them with vinegar, and cover them up for 
two clays. Then they become sweet and agreeable. 
They will keep in this state for five or six days, after that 
they spoil, so that only the quantity immediately need- 
ed is prepared. Although in Elche artifieal fertiliza- 
