98 DATEGROWING 



heavily, but not in the other extreme. The growers of 

 Egypt cut off as many leaves as possible from their 

 palms because they find a ready sale for use in Chris- 

 tian and Jewish church festivals, and they thereby 

 injure the productivity of their palms, a fact which 

 residents of other regions do not hesitate to taunt 

 them with. "It is," says Faqlr Amin, "as if a man 

 should shave his head, and then take off the scalp as 

 well — what would be his condition? And what 

 would his mother and brother say to him?" In 

 adult palms one complete ring of ten to fifteen leaves 

 can ordinarily be removed each year; they are useful 

 as a frost protection for offshoots, or a shade in 

 summer if such is desired. In Arab communities 

 both leaves and fibre have a commercial value and 

 are made into a great variety of products, the fibre 

 furnishing cordage, stuffing for pack saddles, and the 

 like, while the leaflets make baskets, and the midribs 

 all kinds of furniture. 



In general, it may be said that the culture of the 

 palm requires less pains and less skill and study than 

 that of most fruits, and that the expense of growing it 

 is correspondingly less. Pollination is the only 

 delicate operation to be performed, and that is easily 

 learned. This is a case where the value of a supply of 

 seedling trees on which to practice will be evident. 

 Apart from that, the only real problems connected 

 with date growing occur in handling and marketing 

 the crop. As for the culture itself, anyone who has 

 mastered the few and simple fundamental principles 

 of farming in a semi-arid country (which, however, 

 are quite different from those of farming in the 

 eastern United States) can make a success of growing 

 date palms. 



