48 THE PALMS OF EUROPE AND AFKICA. 



harvest of dates at Medina coulinues for two or 

 three months, from July to September, but 

 dates are eaten by the beginning of June. 



From the value of the fruit, the culture of 

 the date palm has received much attention, and 

 the date plantations are carefully tended, and 

 ^vatered by artificial means. One of the most 

 important points in the cultivation of this tree, 

 is the provision of sufficient quantities of male 

 blossoms to fertilize (or " set," as gardeners 

 say,) the fruit with their pollen. We have 

 already alluded to the dia3cious nature of this 

 palm, and the need of artificial npplicatiou in 

 order to insure the ripening of the fruits. For 

 this purpose the pollen is conveyed to the 

 female flowers just as they are about to burst 

 from their sheaths ; this is done in the end of 

 ]\Iarch, or the beginning of April. A sprig or 

 two of the male cluster is taken and introduced 

 into the spathe of the female ; or else they take 

 a whole cluster of the male tree, and sprinkle 

 its pollen, or farina, over several clusters of the 

 female. This latter practice is common in 

 %jpt, where the proportion of male trees is 

 miusually numerous ; but in Barbary and 

 Arabia the other method is resorted to, as 

 under it one male tree is sufficient for four or 

 five hundred female palms. Of the necessity 



