THE PALMS OF EUROPE AND AFRICA. 49 



of tins precaution, a remarkable instance is 

 related by Delile, in his Egyptian Flora. The 

 date trees in the neighbourhood of Cairo did 

 not yield a crop in the year 1800. The Frencli 

 and Turkish troops having been fighting all 

 over the country in the spring, field labour of 

 every kind "was suspended, and among the rest 

 the fecundation of the date. The female date 

 trees put forth their branches of flowers as 

 usual, but not one of them ripened into edible 

 fruit. The pollen of the male trees appears to 

 have been scattered over the country by the 

 winds ; and as it had not been sufficiently 

 abundant for reaching the germs so as to insure 

 fructification, an almost universal failure was 

 the consequence. The Persians, according 

 to the elder Michaux, who travelled in the 

 country, were more provident than the Egyp- 

 tians. In a civil war, which was attended v.'ith 

 all the ruinous effects of anarchy, the male 

 date trees of a whole province were cut down 

 by the invading troops, that the fructification of 

 this necessary of life might be stopped. But 

 the inhabitants, apprehending such a residt, had 

 been careful previously to gather the pollen, 

 Avhich they preserved in close vessels, and thus 

 were enabled to impregnate their trees wlien 

 the country was freed from the destroying 



