178 



Canadian Forestry Journal, April, jp20. 



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The famous Shatt-el-Arab, Mesopotamia. 



town in Mesopotamia), the fig, the 

 the almond, the plum and the apricot 

 of more temperate regions take the 

 place of the date. 



Water Raising Devices. 



The zone of maximum development 

 for the date centres at Basrah and 

 Mohammerah. The reason for this 

 lies primarily in the higher tempera- 

 tures which occur here, and second- 

 arily in the greater ease of irrigation, 

 due to the lowness of the river banks. 

 As the Arab proverb says, the date 

 must have "its feet in water and its 

 head in fire." The trees are spaced 

 about twelve feet by twelve feet, and 

 between every second row runs a 

 ditch, which terminates at the river. 

 As the tide rises the fresh water of 

 the river is forced ahead of it into the 

 irrigation canals and minor ditches, 

 but when it subsides the fresh water 

 can be kept in the ditches by closing 

 the water-gates at their lower ends. 

 On the higher reaches of the river 

 water has to be raised into the ditches 

 by donkey-power, operating various 

 contrivances of wooden pulleys and 

 sheepskin buckets. On the rock- 



bound Euphrates beyond Hit, great 

 water wheels perhaps thirty feet in 

 diameter, are turned by the current 

 and raise the water in numerous 

 earthen pitchers fastened to their out- 

 er margin. 



1 6 Cents Tax Per Tree. 



The otherwise ignorant river Arab 

 is a technically trained man when it 

 comes to date culture. Some sixty 

 varieties are known, differing very 

 slightly from one another, mostly in 

 the fruit. The Arab does not trust 

 to nature for a crop ; hand fertilization 

 must be practised. Male trees a;re 

 about one to every eight female. In 

 March, when the flowers appear in 

 the centre of the new crop of fronds, 

 the male flowers at a certain stage 

 are broken off and tied with a whisp 

 of grass in a reverse position over the 

 female flowers. Here they are left 

 until the male flowers have shrivelled 

 up and pollination has taken place. 



During the hot summer the date 

 clusters turn from green to yellow, 

 and in September to a deep brown. 

 Then is the harvest season. The Arab 

 girds his skirts around his loins and 



