HANDLING THE CROP 129 



best of all varieties to pick — two men can easily gather 

 one thousand pounds in a day. Ghars, on the other 

 hand, holds its fruit close between its thorny leaf 

 stalks, and as, in the moist climate of Tempe, it ripens 

 unevenly, the picker must scrutinize each individual 

 berry. Under these circumstances it has been found 

 at Tempe that a picker sometimes will not secure more 

 than fifty pounds of Ghars berries in a day. 



Two men can usually work together to advantage, 

 one holding a basket into which the other places the 

 berries. They should cut the spines from the leaf 

 stems before beginning work. 



At the first picking it is best, unless with a variety 

 which ripens its fruit very evenly, to go over the bunch 

 carefully, and select only those dates which are really 

 ripe enough to pick. The rest of the bunch is left 

 on the tree for subsequent picking. In bad climates, 

 or with bad varieties, the dates may have to be taken 

 at three or more times, but in Southern California 

 this is rarely the case. The Arab usually cuts a whole 

 cluster at a time, but he wastes a great deal of the 

 crop, and has more culls on his hands than a scientific 

 grower will desire. His methods are not to be taken 

 as a pattern. He frequently cuts a bunch and lets it 

 drop twenty or thirty feet to the ground to save the 

 trouble of lowering it on a rope. 



If the dates are to be consumed at home they 

 require no further treatment, unless it be a washing 

 to clean them of dust. The dainty Arab grower 

 sometimes rinses them in diluted date syrup — a 

 refinement that is hardly worth while. If they are 

 washed, they should be well dried in the sun. 



If they are to be kept for some time, or are to be 

 marketed, they should be pasteurized as soon as 



