CHAPTER IV. 



Pollination to Fruit Preservation. 



59. In some other parts of the world writers have found 



that date palms usually come into flower while the 

 into Vo^Mn mean temperatures are between 68 F. and 77 F. 

 the Punjab and if this were so here, date trees would usually 



number of flower- / 



clusters produced b e i n flower in Multan from about the beginning 



per annum by a 



date tree. to the end of March. What we actually find is 



that, although a very few date trees may 

 sometimes be seen as early as the first week of January, 

 most date trees come into flower and are pollinated between 

 the 15th March and the end of April in Dera Gliazi Khan, 

 Muzaflargarh and Multan districts, which at present form our 

 principal date-growing area. Date palms in Dera Ghazi Khan 

 generally come into flower a week or so earlier than those in 

 Muzaffargarh, and 10 days approximately earlier than those in 

 Multan. The warmer the winter, the earlier the trees come into 

 flower. The time of flowering of a date tree appears to vary with 

 the variety as well as with the climate, however, and is probably 

 also influenced more or less by its water-supply, etc. One date tree 

 of either sex will produce from 5 to 30 flower -clusters in one 

 season, and a month may elapse between the times that its first 

 and its last flower -cluster are ready for fertilisation. 



60. Pollination is the conveying of pollen grains from the 



pollen sac of the stamen to the stigma, or 



Artificial pollination. T 



receptive point, on the carpel. In the case of the 

 date palm, the receptive part of the carpel is its sharp -hooked 

 tip (see illustration No. 18, page 12d). In good date-growing 

 countries pollination is facilitated by the cultivator. It is 

 usually done in the following way : 



The male flower -cluster with its enclosing spathe (see illustra- 

 tions Nos. 15 and 17, pages I2a and 12c), is cut from the tree, 



