78 DATEGROWING 



contradict him; whereas we now know that a very 

 small amount of salt is sufficient to kill seedlings, for 

 they are far less resistant to it than adult palms. Ibn 

 Awam indeed quotes* the exact proportion for the 

 purpose: four pounds of common salt to each two 

 baskets of mingled earth and human excrement — the 

 basket being the "qafiz" of Cordova. f Mahrarius, 

 again quoted by him, thinks the important thing is to 

 soak the seed for five days in water, and then plant it 

 with the ventral channel downward, both of which 

 ideas are fairly sensible. Saghrit holds that failure is 

 due to the temperament of the planter. "Beware," 

 he says, "that the planting is not done by a mean 

 person, or one with a bad mouth and melancholy 

 humor. He should have an aspect of happiness and 

 joy." Other writers inform us that it is of no use for 

 the planter to simulate joy if he does not really feel it 

 — the seed will see through such a hollow mockery at 

 once, and refuse to germinate. The phase of the moon 

 is also an important factor, but as the authorities are 

 far from agreeing as to the proper phase I need not 

 quote them. If the germ-pore is planted downward, 

 it is considered that the palm will be a male. I do 

 not advise anyone to base his faith in seedling dates 

 on this idea, or on the similar one that if the seeds are 

 dipped in boiling water before planting, a larger 

 percentage of them will be female. 



QastusI says the seed should be soaked in water 



*From Abti Abdullah Muhammad b. Ibrahim ibn al Fadhl, 

 an Andalusian Moor whose treatise on agriculture has been lost. It 

 was written in the eleventh century. 



tl suspect Ibn Awam has made a mistake here. The ordinary 

 qafiz is a mule load, while the qafiz of Cordova is only forty-two mudd 

 or double handfuls, and two pounds of salt in this quantity of earth 

 would kill any seed. 



tQastus b. Luqa al RiimI, The Book of Greek Agriculture, ch. 75. 



