54 THE DATE PALM. 



' ratab ', half ' tamar '* ". This stage of ripeness appears to be 

 approximately that at which date fruits are habitually harvested 

 in the Punjab. 



The case of Bahrein is very interesting, as there is an 

 excessively high humidity in the date-ripening season there with 

 practically no rainfall to complicate our interpretations. In 

 the light of the fact that excellent qualities of date fruits are 

 grown at Bahrein, the mean relative humidities at most of our 

 Punjab stations do not appear to be above the limits for success- 

 ful date cultivation. 



In the fruiting season actual rainfall in excess, coupled with 

 a normally damp air which does not allow the rain to dry up 

 rapidly, is what is to be most feared. The ripening period, from 

 the time the dates begin to soften till they are harvested, is the 

 part of the fruiting season in which these conditions do most 

 damage. Of the places referred to in Tables Noes. XIII to XVII, 

 those that produce the best dates, i.e., Tozer, Nefta, Dakhla 

 oasis, Baghdad, and Persian Gulf stations, have practically no 

 rainfall in the ripening season. Kebili has the highest normal 

 rainfall in autumn (September, October, and November). There 

 it is 5 '06 inches. Gabes comes next with 2 '47 inches : Biskra 

 has 1*97 inches, Gafsa T8 inches, and Ayata 0'6 inches. 



25. A glance at Table No. XVII shows that rainfall is the 

 limiting factor for date farming in the Punjab . 



The limiting factor 



of date farming in None of the Punjab stations are rainless in our 



the Punjab. 



date ripening season (July and August). Multan 

 and Montgomery have the lightest rainfall in these months, 

 but even these are higher than those of the date ripening 

 seasons at the date-growing centres outside India quoted 

 above. We know, however, that at Multan, Muzaifargarh, 

 Dera Ghazi Khan and elsewhere, trees fertilised by wind and 

 left very much to care for themselves do produce crops of dates 

 annually. The explanation of this is that date fruits are much 

 more susceptible to damage by wet weather in the final ripening 



* Tamar = ripe. 



