52 THE DATE PALM. 



23. Actual rainfall is much more to be feared than high 



humidity short of precipitation in the flowering 



flowing seLon 6 **> as it may wash the pollen from the 



flowers and may do damage in other ways ; 



therefore the less rain in that season, the better for date farmers. 



The total normal rainfall at the date-growing centres quoted 

 in the above tables in the spring months (March, April, and May) 

 is highest at Biskra. There it is 3'42 inches. This rain evidently 

 does not preclude date culture, for date culture is the leading 

 industry there (see Table No. XI, page 41). Kebili comes 

 second with 2*97 inches ; Baghdad comes next with 2'45 inches, 

 while rainfalls at the other stations are lower. In the Punjab 

 the totals for the same three months are less than 0'8 inches at 

 Montgomery and Multan ; less than 1 '5 inches at Lahore and 

 Ludhiana ; 2 '5 to 3 inches at Khushab and Sialkote, and over 

 5 inches at Rawalpindi. So far, then, as can be seen from the 

 above data, the climate in the flowering season in most parts 

 of the Punjab seems suitable for date culture. Where date 

 trees are already growing that are either pollinated by hand or 

 are in suitable positions with regard to male trees, or where other 

 conditions are suitable, people can set the point at rest for them- 

 selves by noting whether a fair number of fruits on such trees 

 develop seeds annually (see also page 98, para. 70). The test 

 is most severe where female trees are grown with few or no males 

 near them, and the plants are hand pollinated (see page 96, 

 para. 64), because if ram washes the pollen of! the female flower 

 after hand pollination, more pollen is not brought by the wind 

 to replace it as may be the case where the trees are habitually 

 wind pollinated. In the young Arabian date plantations at 

 Multan, and Lyallpur however, where trees have been hand 

 pollinated for the last three years and where very few male trees 

 are growing near, hand pollination has been quite successful. 



24. Although the temperatures may be entirely satis- 

 factorv, excess of atmospheric moisture, including 



Humidity and 



rainfall in the fruit- actual rainfall in the fruit developing and 



developing and 



ripening season. ripening season, may damage the crop by causing 



