102 THE DATE PALM. 



not be dried off as weight is lost, the fruits have a less plump 

 and attractive appearance, and the flavour is impaired. Different 

 varieties of date fruits will require to be exposed to the sun for 

 different lengths of time to bring them to the necessary stage of 

 dry ness ; and if the sky is cloudy or the atmosphere is more or 

 less humid, the length of time of exposure required to dry a 

 particular variety sufficiently will also vary. In Muzaffargarh, 

 in good weather some varieties require to be spread in the sun 

 about one week in order to reduce them to the proper stage of 

 dry ness ; others require only three or four days. Plucked at the 

 stage at which they are here, one-third, or over, of the weight of the 

 fruit is generally lost during the drying process. Much, however, 

 also depends on the quality of the date. Date cultivators very 

 soon get to know approximately how long a particular variety 

 of date fruit will require to be exposed to dry it to the proper 

 stage, and they become very accurate in their estimations of how 

 dry the fruits must be in order to preserve them sufficiently for 

 their particular purposes. All decaying fruits must be carefully 

 removed from the others during drying, as they taint the whole 

 lot if not removed. The fruits require the closest attention while 

 being preserved if the best results are to be got. After this treat- 

 ment they are usually placed on the market or stored for private 

 use. The local date fruits which find their wav into the market 



*/ 



are practically all sold in bulk without any packing. Those 

 that are retained by the growers for their own use later are 

 usually packed in unglazed earthen jars (chatties) which when 

 filled are closed at the top to prevent the entrance of a moth, 

 the eggs of which give rise to wormlike larvae in the fruits later 

 (see page 139, para. 96). The closing is sometimes done by a 

 piece of cloth tied over the top of the jar or by its lid being 

 cemented on to it, with a paste of flour or mud, etc. These 

 unglazed earthen jars absorb a good deal of sap from the fruits 

 during storage. This should be allowed for when the fruits 

 are being prepared for these vessels. Dates keep very well for 

 six months to a year or more, when packed in this way, provided 

 that insects have not laid eggs in the fruits before they were 

 Backed. If that has happened, insect larvae may appear among 



