PHOENIX

PHOENIX, the Great Palm, or Date tree, a genus of plants belonging to the order of palmeæ. See BOTANY INDEX. As the account of this valuable plant already given in its proper place, under BOTANY, is rather short to be satisfactory, we shall here enter a little more into the detail of its natural history. There is only one species, viz. the daçylifera, or common date-tree, a native of Africa and eastern countries, where it grows to 30, 50, and 100 feet high. The trunk is round, upright, and studded with protuberances, which are the vestiges of the decayed leaves. From the top issues forth a cluster of leaves or branches eight or nine feet long, extending all around like an umbrella, and bending a little towards the earth. The bottom part produces a number of stalks like those of the middle, but seldom shooting so high as four or five feet. These stalks, says Adanson, diffuse the tree very considerably; so that, wherever it naturally grows in forests, it is extremely difficult to open a passage through its prickly leaves. The date-tree was introduced into Jamaica soon after the conquest of the island by the Spaniards. There are however, but few of them in Jamaica at this time. The fruit is somewhat in the shape of an acorn. It is composed of a thin, light, and glossy membrane, somewhat pellucid and yellowish; which contains a fine, soft, and pulpy fruit, which is firm, sweet, and somewhat vinous to the taste, cisculent, and wholesome; and within this is inclosed a solid, tough, and hard kernel, of a pale grey colour on the outside, and finely marbled within like the nutmeg. For medicinal use dates are to be chosen large, full, fresh, yellow on the surface, soft and tender, not too much wrinkled; such as have a vinous taste, and do not rattle when shaken. They are produced in many parts of Europe, but never ripen perfectly there. The best are brought from Tunis; they are also very fine and good in Egypt and in many parts of the east. Those of Spain and France look well; but are never perfectly ripe, and very subject to decay. They are preserved three different ways; some pressed and dry; others pressed more moderately, and again moistened with their own juice; and others not pressed at all, but moistened with the juice of other dates, as they are packed up, which is done in baskets or skins. Those

preserved in this last way are much the best. Dates have always been esteemed moderately strengthening and altringent.

Though the date tree grows everywhere indiscriminately on the northern coasts of Africa, it is not cultivated with care, except beyond Mount Atlas; because the heat is not sufficiently powerful along the coasts to bring the fruits to proper maturity. We shall here extract some observations from Mr Des Fontaines respecting the manner of cultivating it in Barbary, and on the different uses to which it is applied. All that part of the Zaara which is near Mount Atlas, and the only part of this vast desert which is inhabited, produces very little corn; the soil being sandy, and burnt up by the sun, is almost entirely unfit for the cultivation of grain, its only productions of that kind being a little barley, maize, and forgo. The date-tree, however, supplies the deficiency of corn to the inhabitants of these countries, and furnishes them with almost the whole of their subsistence. They have flocks of sheep; but as they are not numerous, they prefer these for the sake of their wool; besides, the flesh of these animals is very unwholesome food in countries that are excessively warm; and these people, though ignorant, have probably been enabled by experience to know that it was salutary for them to abstain from it. The date trees are planted without any order, at the distance of 12 feet one from the other, in the neighbourhood of rivulets and streams which issue from the sand. Forests of them may be seen here and there, some of which are several leagues in circumference. The extent of these plantations depends upon the quantity of water which can be procured to water them: for they require much moisture. All these forests are intermixed with orange, almond, and pomegranate trees, and with vines which twist round the trunks of the date trees; and the heat is strong enough to ripen the fruit, though they are never exposed to the sun.

Along the rivulets and streams, dykes are erected to stop the course of their waters, in order that they may be distributed amongst the date trees by means of small canals. The number of canals is fixed for each individual; and in several cantons, to have a right to them, the proprietors are obliged to pay an annual sum proportionable to the number and extent of their plantations. Care is taken to till the earth well, and to raise a circular border around the root of each tree, that the water may remain longer and in larger quantity. The date trees are watered in every season, but more particularly during the great heats of summer.

It is generally in winter that new plantations of this tree are formed. For this purpose those who cultivate them take shoots of those which produce the best dates, and plant them at a small distance one from the other. At the end of three or four years these shoots, if they have been properly taken care of, begin to bear fruit; but this fruit is as yet dry, without sweetness, and even without kernels; they never reach the highest degree of perfection of which they are susceptible till they are about 15 or 20 years old.

These plants are however produced from the seeds taken out of the fruit, provided they are fresh. They should be sown in pots filled with light rich earth, and plunged into a moderate hotbed of tanners bark, which should

Phoenix. should be kept in a moderate temperature of heat, and the earth frequently refreshed with water. When the plants are come up to a proper size, they should be each planted in a separate small pot, filled with the same light earth, and plunged into a hotbed again, observing to refresh them with water, as also to let them have air in proportion to the warmth of the season and the bed in which they are placed. During the summer time they should remain in the same hotbed; but in the beginning of August, they should have a great share of air to harden them against the approach of winter; for if they are too much forced, they will be so tender as not to be preserved through the winter without much difficulty, especially if you have not the convenience of a bark stove to keep them in. The soil in which these plants should be placed, must be composed in the following manner, viz. half of light fresh earth taken from a pasture-ground, the other half sea sand and rotten dung or tanners bark in equal proportion; these should be carefully mixed, and laid in a heap three or four months at least before it is used, but should be often turned over to prevent the growth of weeds, and to sweeten the earth.

The trees, however, which spring from seed never produce so good dates as those that are raised from shoots; they being always poor and ill tasted. It is undoubtedly by force of cultivation, and after several generations, that they acquire a good quality.

The date trees which have been originally sown, grow rapidly, and we have been assured that they bear fruit in the fourth or fifth year. Care is taken to cut the inferior branches of the date tree in proportion as they rise; and a piece of the root is always left of some inches in length, which affords the easy means of climbing to the summit. These trees live a long time, according to the account of the Arabs; and in order to prove it, they say that when they have attained to their full growth, no change is observed in them for the space of three generations.

The number of females which are cultivated is much superior to that of the males, because they are much more profitable. The sexual organs of the date tree grow, as is well known, upon different stalks, and these trees flower in the months of April and May, at which time the Arabs cut the male branches to impregnate the female. For this purpose, they make an incision in the trunk of each branch which they wish to produce fruit, and place in it a stalk of male flowers; without this precaution the date tree would produce only abortive fruit (A). In some cantons the male branches are only shaken over the female. The practice of impregnating the date tree in this manner is very ancient. Pliny de-

scribes it very accurately in that part of his work where Phoenix. he treats of the palm tree.

There is scarcely any part of the date tree which is not useful. The wood, though of a spongy texture, lasts such a number of years, that the inhabitants of the country say it is incorruptible. They employ it for making beams and instruments of husbandry; it burns slowly, but the coals which result from its combustion are very strong, and produce a great heat.

The Arabs strip the bark and fibrous parts from the young date trees, and eat the substance which is in the centre; it is very nourishing, and has a sweet taste: it is known by the name of the marrow of the date tree. They eat also the leaves, when they are young and tender, with lemon juice; the old ones are laid out to dry, and are employed for making mats and other works of the same kind, which are much used, and with which they carry on a considerable trade in the interior parts of the country. From the sides of the stumps of the branches which have been left arise a great number of delicate filaments, of which they make ropes, and which might serve to fabricate cloth.

Of the fresh dates and sugar, says Hasselquist, the Egyptians make a conserve, which has a very pleasant taste. In Egypt they use the leaves as fly-flaps, for driving away the numerous insects which prove so troublesome in hot countries. The hard boughs are used for fences and other purposes of husbandry; the principal stem for building. The fruit, before it is ripe, is somewhat astringent; but when thoroughly mature, is of the nature of the fig. The Senegal dates are shorter than those of Egypt, but much thicker in the pulp, which is said to have a sugary agreeable taste, superior to that of the best dates of the Levant.

A white liquor, known by the name of milk, is drawn also from the date tree. To obtain it, all the branches are cut from the summit of one of these trees, and after several incisions have been made in it, they are covered with leaves, in order that the heat of the sun may not dry it.

The sap drops down into a vessel placed to receive it, at the bottom of a circular groove, made below the incisions. The milk of the date tree has a sweet and agreeable taste when it is new; it is very refreshing, and it is even given to sick people to drink, but it generally turns sour at the end of 24 hours. Old trees are chosen for this operation, because the cutting of the branches, and the large quantity of sap which flows from them, greatly exhaust them, and often cause them to decay.

The male flowers of the date tree are also useful. They

Phoenix. They are eaten when still tender, mixed up with a little lemon juice. They are reckoned to be very provocative: the odour which they exhale is probably the cause of this property being ascribed to them.

These date trees are very lucrative to the inhabitants of the desert. Some of them produce 20 bunches of dates; but care is always taken to lop off a part of them, that those which remain may become larger; 10 or 12 bunches only are left on the most vigorous trees.

It is reckoned that a good tree produces, one year with another, about the value of 10 or 12 shillings to the proprietor. A pretty considerable trade is carried on with dates in the interior part of the country, and large quantities of them are exported to France and Italy. The crop is gathered towards the end of November. When the bunches are taken from the tree, they are hung up in some very dry place where they may be sheltered and secure from insects.

Dates afford wholesome nourishment, and have a very agreeable taste when they are fresh. The Arabs eat them without seasoning. They dry and harden them in the sun, to reduce them to a kind of meal, which they lay up in store to supply themselves with food during the long journeys which they often undertake across their deserts. This simple food is sufficient to nourish them for a long time.—The inhabitants of the Zara procure also from their dates a kind of honey which is exceedingly sweet. For this purpose they choose those which have the softest pulp; and having put them into a large jar with a hole in the bottom, they squeeze them by placing over them a weight of eight or ten pounds.—The most fluid part of the substance, which drops through the hole, is what they call the honey of the date.

Even the stones, though very hard, are not thrown away. They give them to their camels and sheep as food, after they have bruised them or laid them to soften in water.

The date, as well as other trees which are cultivated, exhibits great variety in its fruit, with respect to shape, size, quality, and even colour. There are reckoned to be at least twenty different kinds. Dates are very liable to be pierced by worms, and they soon corrupt in moist or rainy weather.

From what has been said, it may easily be perceived, that there is, perhaps, no tree whatever used for so many and so valuable purposes as the date tree.