PH(ENIX SYLVESTRIS. R. Wild date palm.
Elate sylvesttis, Linn.
Send ka Thar, . . HIND. Ectcha mantra, . . TAIL Rilaji of . SALT RANGE. Its chettu, Ita, . . TEL. Ptah= pane, . . TA3I. Pedda ita, . . . „ The wild data palm grows throughout British India, and is of great value on account of the palm wine it yields, and the sugar made from the palm wine. It occurs wild in many places in and near the Siwalik tract, up to and probably beyond the Indus, in the Salt Range, and out into the plains in the east of the Punjab. It is not seen much above 3000 feet in the outer hills ; and Vigne correctly points out that the palms of Baramoule in Kashmir were creations of Moor's imagination. It is found in the Sind Sager Doab, on the borders of sandy tracts, and in such land that little else grows on.
In Muzaffargarh it does not grow actually in the sandy desert, but flourishes on its borders in the most wretched soil, and where hardly any other vegetable exists, and it is often found in luxuriant groves. They pay a tax to Govern ment, which forms an important item in the sair revenue of some districts. If not too early notched for the wine, it grows straight and very tall, length of trunk being 50 feet, and girth 2 feet, and attains full size in 40 years. Its wood is used for water-conduits, and for temporary bridges; and its leaves are extensively employed for baskets and matting for floors. Its timber is inferior to the palmyra, cocoanut, etc.Tho fruit when ripe is small, oval-shaped, dark-col oured, and sweetish, about the size of a ripe wild plum, but of no value. The leaves and stalks are made into baskets, boxes, and hats, twisted Into rope, used for thatching, and in the manufacture of light mats for building huts. At the age of seven or ten years, when the trunk of the tree is about four feet high, it begins to yield juice, and continues productive for 20 or 25 years. The is extracted during the months of November, December, January, and February, during which period each tree is reckoned to yield from 120 to 240 pints of juice, averaging 160 pints. Every
12 pints or pounds is boiled down to one of gur or jagari, and four of gur yield one of good sugar in powder, so that the average produce of each tree is about 7 or 8 lbs. of sugar annually. It yields Sendi or palm wine, commonly called toddy. The mode of obtaining this is by re moving the lower leaves and their sheaths, and cutting a notch into the centre of the tree near the top, from which the liquor issues, and is con ducted by a small channel, made by a bit of the palmyra tree leaf, into a pot suspended to receive it. This juice is either drunk fresh from the tree, or boiled down into sugar, or fermented for dis tillation, when it gives out a large portion of spirit, called arrack. Date sugar is imported in con siderable quantities into Britain. Dr. Roxburgh calculated that in 1800 only about 100,000 lbs. were made annually in all Bengal. The inner wood furnishes, by boiling, a kind of catechu, which contains much tannin. It is obtained by boiling the heart-wood for a few hours, when it assumes the appearance and consistency of tar. It hardens by cooling ; and when formed into small squares and dried in the sun, is fit for the market. The produce of Bombay is of uniform texture and of a dark-red colour. That of Kon kan and other parts of India is of a chocolate colour, and .marked inside with red streaks. The analysis of Sir H. Davy gave the following result : Bombay. Konkan. Bombay. Konkan.
Tannin,. . 54'5 48'5 Insoluble mat Extractive, 3413 tern, sand, Mucilage, . 6'5 813 lime, etc., . 5 0 7•0 The fibres of the leaf-stalk are used for cables in the Red Sea. The natives of the east chew the fruit in the same manner as the areca nut, with the leaf of the betel, pepper, and quick lime.—Eng. Cyc. ; Roxb. ; Simmonds, p. 579 ; Ainslie, Madras Ex. Jur. Report. See Date.