THE DATE GARDENS. 23 



the time when the trunk began to diminish in size. If manure is 

 subsequently supplied to it, the palm is soon able to return to its 

 normal rate of groAvth and the trunk again becomes larger. 



Palms are not manured until they are 10 or 12 years old. At that 

 age each tree usually receives 10 sacks (5 camel loads) of manure, 

 half of which is applied on one side of the trunk the first year and 

 the other half on the other side the following year. Thereafter, in 

 order to obtain the highest yields, the trees should be manured every 

 twelve or fifteen years, although sometimes thirty years are allowed 

 to elapse between two manurings. Older palms receive as much as 

 14 sacks of manure (7 at each application). Camels' dung (see 

 PI. IV, fig. 2) only is used for date palms in the Oued Souf, although 

 in the oases of Tunis that of donkeys is preferred, the natives there 

 considering camel manure injurious where irrigation is practiced. 

 The cost of a sackful of camel manure in the Oued Souf was stated 

 by one informant to be 25 to 30 cents, while another placed it at 40 

 to 45 cents. In either case it is evidently an expensive article. 



Manure is never used until it is thoroughly rotted, and even then it 

 is not allowed to come into direct contact with the base of the tree. 

 It is placed in a hole that is dug to a depth of 8 to G feet below^ the 

 general level of the floor of the basin and at a distance of 5 or (> feet 

 from the foot of the palm. When several neighboring palms are to 

 be manured at the same time, the hole is dug in the center of the space 

 among them, and is made so large that none of the palms is more than 

 feet distant from its edge." The hole is then filled with a mixture 

 of one part manure and one part of a bright yellow sand called 

 '' baker," which is somewhat more loamy and probably contains more 

 gypsum than the surface sand of the region, and is obtained at a 

 greater depth. Unmixed manure is never used, even though thor- 

 oughly rotted, being considered injurious to the palm roots. The soil 

 removed in digging the hole is never put back, being '' dirty," as the 

 natives express it. 



October is considered the best season for applying manure, al- 

 though March is also a good time. Unskillful growers sometimes 

 manure their palms at other seasons, but this is thought to do more 

 harm than good. Sometimes, unless the hole is opened and the 

 manure removed as soon as the tree shows signs of injury, it is said 

 to die from the effects of manuring at the Avrong period. 



The effect of manuring upon the yield is large and almost imme- 

 diate. It is said that a tree which bears 200 pounds of dates one j^ear 

 will often give 400 pounds the season following if meanwhile manure 



" One such bole, freshly excavated at the time of the writer's visit, occupied 

 much the greater part of the area .-unoni; four ])alnis. I)eing 12 feet long and ."> 

 feet wide. It was divided unequally by a narrow ridge of soil left in i)lace. 

 The object of this division could not be learned. 



