It begins to bear fruit about eight years after it has been planted, and
continues to be productive from seventy to one hundred years.
Dates are oval in shape, and have a long solid stone. They form the
principal food of the inhabitants of some of the eastern countries, and
are an important article of commerce.
When they are perfectly ripe, they possess a delightful perfume, and are
very agreeable to the taste.
In preparing dates to be sent to distant countries, they are gathered a
short time before they are quite ripe, dried in the sun on mats, and
finally packed in boxes or straw sacks.
Travelers in the deserts of Africa, often carry dried dates with them
for their chief food, during a journey of hundreds of miles.
The Arabs grind dried dates into a powder which they call date flour. If
this is packed away in a dry place, it will keep for years, and only has
to be moistened with a little water to prepare it for eating.
One of the most valuable and productive of tropical trees is the
cocoa-nut palm. It grows largely in both the East and West Indies, and
elsewhere throughout the torrid zone.
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