178 [ THE POMEGRANATE 



The pomegranate flowers towards the close of 

 April and the flowering period is often prolonged till 

 June. The fruit is ripe in October, but keeps well 

 on the tree, or stored, far into the winter, sometimes 

 until spring. The flowers are bisexual, but are not 

 of the same value as fruit- producers. The true fruit- 

 producing flowers have a long, fleshy, well-developed 

 calyx, of a reddish or yellowish green colour, with 

 a plump and well-marked ovary. The other type of 

 flowers as a rule have a weak funnel-shaped calyx 

 oi a deep red colour, and a hardly distinguishable 

 ovary. In these flowers the petals are often slightly 

 larger and the stamens are more numerous and better 

 developed than in the others, and it is probable that 

 their function is to fertilize the true fruit-bearing flowers, 

 although they occasionally set fruit, which however 

 always remains small or at least undersized. 



A prejudice quite common with our gardeners is 

 that the pomegranate is fertilized by the white flowers 

 of Ammi majus L. (in Maltese=^^ra) or of Tor dy Hum 

 apulum L. (in Maltese=^ytr^/ it- trier a ft), two umbel- 

 liferous plants common everywhere in our fields and 

 valleys. Small bunches of flowers of any of these 

 plants are tied to the twigs of the pomegranate 

 in May, and the operation is repeated once or twice 

 during the flowering period. Of course, from a botanical 

 standpoint the practice is absurd and indefensible, 

 but after a series of careful trials I am unable to 

 deny that the operation is generally followed by increased 

 productiveness, and it is difficult to account for this 

 unexpected result, except on the supposition that the 

 white flowers of the umbelliferous plants above mentioned 

 may attract a larger number of pronubal insects, to 

 serve as pollen carriers between the two types of flowers 

 of the promegranate. 



The following are the principal sorts of pome- 

 granates existing in these Islands. 



