38 DATE GROWING 



the stream has taken a new channel, doubtless there 

 is still underground water below the plantation. 

 It is also proper to note that, in the case of Madlna 

 palms. Burton contradicts his predecessor, saying, 

 "One of the reasons for the excellence of the Madinah 

 dates is the quantity of water they obtain; each garden 

 or field has its well; and even in the hottest weather 

 the Persian wheel floods the soil every third day. 

 It has been observed that the date tree can live in dry 

 and barren spots; but it loves the beds of streams and 

 places where moisture is procurable. The palms 

 scattered over the other parts of the plain, and 

 depending solely on rainwater, produce less fruit, 

 and that too of an inferior quality."* 



The result of these facts is to leave a grower some- 

 what uncertain when he asks himself the important 

 question, "How much water do I need for an acre of 

 palms?" Estimates published in the United States 

 vary from one-fifth of a miner's inch per acre to one 

 inch. It is certainly much better to start in with 

 too much than too little, and in the present state of 

 knowledge one would be ill-advised who attempted to 

 start a date plantation without an abundant water 

 supply, even on soil which held moisture particularly 

 well. On such a soil, the estimate of one-fifth inch per 

 acre might possibly suflBce; on a light sandy soil one 

 would not have too much if he possessed a full inch 

 for each fifty palms, and in general this quantity 

 should be available, if one wishes to be safe. If a 



*Burton, R. F., Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage of Al Madinah 

 and Meccah, vol. 1, p. 403. As to the excellence of the unirrigated 

 fruit, Burckhardt is more likely to be correct, for a letter of Muham- 

 mad to Harith b. Kaftan is extant, concerning a division of spoils 

 in which the prophet took the unirrigated palms and left the irrigated 

 ones; and he was not the man to take the worst of anything. Cf. 

 J<jh4ri, art. Dhamineh. 



