96 THE DATE PALM. 



64. It is essential that pollination is done as soon as possible 

 Hand pollination after the female spathe bursts, as within a few 

 SnSt at egu the days time the stigmas of the carpels become 

 flowering season. withered and unreceptive. When the flowers 

 open the stigmas are most fresh and receptive. At that time 

 they are whitish coloured. They become dark as they wither. 

 In very hot dry weather the beginning of the darkening process 

 is apparent after two days ; in cloudy dull weather it may 

 only be apparent after four or five days. For this reason the 

 plantations of good date cultivators are carefully and frequently 

 inspected during the flowering season and every flower-cluster 

 is pollinated as it becomes ready. As hand-pollination is being 

 introduced into the Punjab, I may here emphasise that unless 

 careful and regular attention can be given to the pollination 

 of the female flower-clusters in the flowering season, good 

 results will not be got, where only 3 per cent, of the trees 

 are males, and no wild males are growing near. Pollination 

 is a very simple process, however, consisting merely of thrusting 

 a branch of a male flower -cluster into a female cluster, and two 

 to three visits per week during the flowering season would be 

 sufficient to ensure getting the flowers in the proper stage of 

 development for pollination. With a little practice it is a simple 

 matter to detect spathes which are just about to open, and in 

 order to reduce the number of visits necessary to pollinate all 

 the flower bunches satisfactorily, Arab date-growers cut these 

 open and pollinate them when they are pollinating those which 

 have already opened. 



65. Pollen may be kept for at least one year with safety 



Preservation of ^ & is stored in a &J P^ce. For storage 



pollen. purposes the flower-cluster is frequently not 



removed from its spathe, and if it is removed from its spathe, 



it is usually stored in a paper bag. Where male trees are late 



in coming into flower and females are early, it is advisable to 



store a few male flower-clusters, which contain ripe pollen, so 



that pollen may be at hand when the early females come into 



flower in the following season. 



