THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [March i, 1888. 
is not improbable that some of these Egyptian varieties 
might be found suited also to the damper climates of 
India, such as Bombay and Bengal. 
15. All the replies say, that, usually, there is no such 
thing as a bunch of dates ripening all at the same time. 
On the driest land and on the borders of the desert, 
the dates are allowed to remain until the whole buuch 
is ripe ; but in most places the dates of each bunch 
are gathered in several pickings, either by hand, or 
the bunch is shaken over a large, net slung under it. 
They are either eaten as they become ripe off the tree, 
or dried in the sun, and prepared in various ways. 
Often the bunches are cut off in their red or yellow 
stage, and sold in the bazaars. They are eaten by the 
people, although they are astringent and have no sweet- 
ness. When the individual dates on a bunch begin to 
ripen, the whole is often cut off and hung in the houses 
of both natives and Europeans. The dates are then 
picked off aud eaten as they ripen. A kind of jam is 
made of the unripe fruit, or they are salted and eaten 
as condiment, aud the shrivelled ones are removed 
from the bunch to give strength to the remain- 
der. 
16. The weight of dates from a full-grown tree is 
given from 50 to 500 lb. according to circumstances and 
the care given to the trees. The life of a date-tree is 
given from 80 to 100 years, and that it is certain that 
some trees now standing are between 100 and 200 years 
old. Their life generally comes to an end by being 
blown down in a storm. As long as they live, 
with proper care, they produce abundantly every 
year. . --,-.'!"" (.•,.s v i ->i *. . 
17. The cultivation of the date-tree is very extensive 
in Egypt, and the crop is immense. Most of the natives 
live for fully three months both on the unripe aud on 
the dry dates. The dates are cheaper to them than 
common bread, and the poorer classes keep the date- 
stones, and use them as fuel. Many uses are made of 
the trunks, leaves, leaf-stalks, fruit stalks, and the fibre 
of date-trees. Vinegar and spirit are made from the fruit. 
The trees which are most cared for give the largest 
and best crops. Pigeon-dung is largely used for manur- 
ing date-trees, so are horse and other manures utilized. 
Dust from old villages is also used. I fancy this cor- 
responds to the nona of Indian cultivators. It is pro- 
bably a oompound of nitrate of potash. Manure is 
mostly used in Lower Egypt. In Upper Egypt, the 
tilling of the soil between the date-trees is supposed to 
supply the necessary aliment. A hundred date-pilms 
are said to require the labour of one man for three 
months a year. The lower decayed leaves are removed 
once a year. 
18. The practical native, employed on the Domains, 
gives the following names of distinct kinds : — Hayani, 
Arabiate, Kababi, Bind Eysha Zanar, Sergni, Rawaked, 
Samuni, Zaghlaul, Chetieh, Om Nasreddin, Alayly, 
Amri, Ohihayet, Akoula, Mokarba, Bemeri, Zokour, 
Boimakhal, Abrimi, Sokaut, Hafer-el-Gnedi, Bezelnaka, 
Sobazenab, Gandila, Khodrawny, El Siwy, El Wahy, 
and others. The best of these, however, are Zaghlaul, 
El Amri, El Sokaut, El Gandila, El Khodrawy, El 
Abrimi, and El Siwy. Mr. Biancardi says the best 
varieties are Ghazali, Hayani, Amri, Aklawi, Beyd-el- 
Gamal, Bint Eysha, and Eglani. While Wilson Bey, 
the Scotch Mechanical Engineer, says the best of all 
is the Amhat, a small brown date grown at Gizeh, on 
sandy soil, which is not inundated. Then comes the 
Amri, a fine large date, black when ripe. When 
ripe, it bears transport to the Levant, Greece, and 
othe'r parts of Europe. It grows in Shirkieh, Fakoos, 
Salhieh, and Abu-Kebir. Samuni, a large yellow date 
when ripe. It grows in sandy soil about Rosetta, and 
is not inundated. Zar/hlaul, a fine rich date, some- 
times plucked aud eaten in its red and unripe state. 
It is also grown on sandy soil near Rosetta. The fol- 
lowing ho gives as inferior dates, viz. , Hayani, a 
coarse date, often eaten unripe and red. It grows on 
clayey soil in the Calioubieh. It is sometimes inun- 
dated. Mint Eysha, a small date, known all ovi'r the 
lower country, and grown in artificially-irrigated dis- 
tricts, dglam, grown on clayey soil and irrigatad_ 
parts of the Shirkieh. 
19. Mr. BiauoarUi, who is aot only a practical mm 
of business, but also a horticulturist, gives the 
following details in his notes, which may be of some 
value : — 
The young trees should be obtained from Abuhatnmad, 
Oren, or Salhieh, detached from the parent tree. 
They generally stand from four o five feet high, and 
are about three years old. They are wrapped up in 
palm-tree fibre, and transplanted in January and 
February. They would stand the voyage to Bombay 
well. They would only require the envelope over their 
roots damped once a day. On arrival at destination 
they should be planted in deep holes, one for each, 
up to their bottom leaf. The tree is then to be 
wrapped up in old matting and watered every day 
for 40 consecutive days, and then on alternate days, 
till four months are over. The roots are then supposed 
to be long enough to feed themselves, and the trees 
are then treated like any other fruit-tree. Such a 
thing as a full-grown tree dying for want of water 
is not known. A nakhal or two (dale-tree cultivators) 
should be engaged to go with them, and carry Out the 
process. They would teach the Indians in two or 
three years how to deal with these trees. In about 
five years 20,000 E iyptian trees, treated as explained, 
would yield £ 10,000 a year (according to Egyptian 
reckoning). The cost of 20,000, at a shilling eaoh, 
would be £1,000. Their total weight would be 1,000 
tons. They could reach India and be planted for the 
amount of £3,000 all old. They would require 200 acres 
of waste and poor land, which might be purchased 
for a small sum. Taking into consideration the four 
or five years which will have to elapse before they 
fruit, and the interest on the capital engaged, the 
total amount expended before the first crop would pro- 
bably reach £6y)00. Admitting that half the trees 
would die, or be fruitless, the other 10,000, producing 
half crop only, would represent £5,000 revenue for 
the first year. The first crops of a date-tree are n ot 
large. Some give one aud some two bunches the first 
year. The number of bunches continue to increase 
till the trees reach the age of 15 years, when they will 
give as many as 10 or 12 bunches." 
Mr. Biancardi may have added that, with care, a 
date-tree will go on producing this amount aniiually for 
180 years or more. 
20. No one probably is going to try date-planting 
in India on this scale ; but it is not improbable that 
some of the Rajputana Chiefs, or His Highness the 
Nizam of Hyderabad, might be inclined to try the 
experiment on a small scale, and engage a couple of 
Egyptians to accompany the young trees, and treat 
them as they do in Egypt. Sir R. Temple, in his " Jour- 
nals of Hyderabad," tays : — 
" Below the Manjnera Valley, and between the 
Rivers Manjhera, Bbima, and Kristua, lies the most 
important part of the Nizam's Dekkan. This area 
comprises marked variations of contour, soil and cli- 
mate, and is either studded with hills or else literally 
fluctuates with undulations. The eastern portion is 
dotted over with artifioial lakes or reservoirs, construct- 
ed by the Hindu dynasties, and known as tanks. In- 
deed, it is the finest scene of tank irrigation in all 
India, and it is here that the Pakhal lake is situated, 
which is probably the largest sheet of water in the 
Peninsula." 
He goes on to say : — 
"Geologically speaking, it may be said in general 
terms, that in the north and west,| blackish trap and 
dark heavy soils prevail; while in the remainder, that 
is the south-east portion, reddish granite and laterite 
rocks and lighter soil prevail. These geological divi- 
sions affect the agriculture and produce in the meat 
marked manner, for in the black soils are raised cot- 
ton and whf>at, while the red soil produce the spring 
and autumn harvests of rice, dependent entirely on 
'tank,' irrigation. Hence it is that even in this land 
of 1 tanks,' the light soil districts are par excellence 
those of the artificial lakes." 
According to the above description, the Nizam's 
territories would appear to be cut out by nature for 
the succrs-ful growth of the Egyptian date-tree on a 
large scale. After the trees had taken root, the tank 
water infiltration would afford them the »ub-soil mois- 
