A TRIP TO EGYPT.* 
FEBRUARY and MARCH, 1892. 
BY W. H. WILKINSON, F.L.S., F.R.M.S., 
PRESIDENT OF THE BIRMINGHAM NATURAL HISTORY AND MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY, 
FELLOW BOTANICAL SOCIETY, EDINBURGH. 
(Concluded from page 102.) 
The Palm Trees. 
The date palm trees give the chief charm to Egyptian scenery. 
They give you the impression that the Nile is their home. As 
they grow out of the sand without any cultivation at all in many 
places, their roots must strike down to a level at which the water 
can percolate through from the river. The average height is 40ft. 
to 50ft., the trunks being straight, and the stumps of fallen leaves 
giving the appearance of a rugged bark. They have no branches, 
so that the beautiful plume of leaves waving so high in the air is 
graceful in the extreme. The leaves are about 10ft. long, and are 
used in many ways by the Arabs for shelter for their huts, articles 
for their use, and fly-whisks so useful to the tourist. The growth 
of the palm is slow, it taking some five years to add 1ft. to its 
height, and it lives from 100 to 200 years. 
There is a tax on all fruit-bearing palms, but the yield of dates 
on each tree is enormous, some trees bearing six huge clusters of 
fruit. The wild ones depend upon the wind for their fertilisation, 
but the cultivated ones receive the most careful attention, and the 
pollen is collected on purpose. 
The Dom Palm 
is first met with as you enter upper Egypt, as it requires a more 
tropical heat than the date palm. It forms a very handsome tree 
as it spreads out great branches with fan-shaped leaves. Its fruit 
is a cluster of hard nuts from which the vegetable ivory of commerce 
is obtained, and we saw Arabs with hand-carts filled with them, 
offering them for sale in the neighbouring villages. 
The Acacia Tree 
forms long avenues near to Cairo, where it has been planted along 
each side of the roads for the sake of its grateful shade, the roads 
June, 1893. 
