102 DATEGROWING 



probably so many male palms that the fruit was 

 pollinated even without the aid of man. 



But if they did not grasp the prime im.portance 

 of the operation, they had a good excuse in precedent, 

 for one of the most humiliating episodes in the career 

 of the "divinely inspired" and professedly infallible 

 Muhammad was due to the same ignorance — and 

 it occurred at Madina, which has always claimed to 

 be the center of the science of date growing. One 

 spring the prophet announced that the artificial 

 impregnation of the palm was an unnatural practice, 

 and in the future would be unlawful for his followers. 

 They loyally abstained, with many misgivings, no 

 doubt; and in the fall there was no date crop. An 

 indignation meeting was immediately held and a 

 citizens' committee called on the prophet for a 

 heart-to-heart talk, as a result of which Muhammad 

 made a statement to this effect: "You are weak in 

 spiritual knowledge, but are worldly-wise; therefore 

 in the future I will confine myself to the government 

 of your spiritual welfare, and let you manage the 

 affairs of this world to suit yourselves." Next year 

 the palms were artificially pollinated and the crop 

 good as usual. 



Egypt has always been noted for the number of 

 male palms it contained,* and it is probable that 

 fecundation by the wind relieved the growers to some 

 extent of the necessity for artificial impregnation; 

 at any rate, the traveler John Ogilby, who wrote in 



*A report is still extant, made to Umar b. al Khatib, the second 

 caliph, when he was contemplating the conquest of Egypt; his 

 informant describes it as "a soil rich in harvests and in male palms." 

 Quoted by Ma.-.udi in "The Prairies of Gold," vol. Ill, p. 125. Paris, 

 1864. 



