DATE-PALM, OR DATE-TREE. 65 



filled with light rich earth, and plunged into a moderate hot-bed of 

 tanner's bark, which should be kept in a moderate temperature of 

 heat, and the earth frequently refreshed with water. When the 

 plants are come up to a proper size, they should be each planted in 

 a separate small pot, filled with the same light earth, and plunged 

 into a hot-bed again ; observing to refresh them with water, as also 

 to let them have air in proportion to the warmth of the season, and 

 the bed in which they are placed. During the summer time they 

 should remain in the same hot-bed; but in the beginning of August 

 they should have a great share of air to harden them against the 

 approach of winter ; for if they are too much forced, they will be 

 so tender as not to be preserved through the winter without much 

 difficulty, especially if you have not the conveniency of a bark-stove 

 to keep them in. 



The trees, however, which spring from seed, never produce so 

 good dates as those that are raised from shoots, they being always 

 poor and ill-tasted. It is undoubtedly by force of cultivation, and 

 after several generations, that they acquire a good quality. The 

 date trees which have been originally sown grow rapidly, and we 

 have been assured that they bear fruit* in the fourth or fifth year. 

 Care is taken to cut the inferior branches of the date-tree in propor- 

 tion as they rise ; and a piece of the root is always left of some 

 inches in length, which affords the easy means of climbing to the 

 summit. These trees live a long time, according to the account of 

 the Arabs: and in order to prove it, they say that when they have 

 attained to their full growth, no change is observed in them for the 

 space of three generations. 



The number of females which are cultivated is much superior to 

 that of the males, because they are much more profitable. The 

 sexual organs of the date-tree grow, as is well known, upon differ- 

 ent stalks, and these trees flower in the months ot April and May, 

 at which time the Arabs cut the male branches to impregnate the 

 female. For this purpose they make an incision in the trunk of 

 each branch which they wish to produce fruit, and place in it a 

 stalk of male flowers ; without this precaution the date tree would 

 produce only abortive fruit. In some cantons the male branches 

 are only shaken over the female. The practice of impregnating the 

 date-tree in this manner is very ancient. Pliny describes it very 



vol. v. F 



