PKOPAGATION OF DATE PALMS. 43 



vegetables, forage crops, and grain in the gardens (PL VII, fig. 2) 

 and he is allowed as much as he wishes of these products for his own 

 use, besides one- fourth of the proceeds of what is sold. 



In return, the khammes is expected not only to carry on all the 

 work of the garden irrigation, cultivation, manuring, pollinating 

 the female flower clusters, etc. and to keep in repair the ditches 

 for irrigation (seguias) and those for drainage (khandaks), as well 

 as the walls (tabias), but, when he has any spare time, to do domestic 

 service for the proprietor. During the season when the fruit is 

 ripening and needs to be guarded night and day to prevent its being 

 stolen the khammes and his sons often camp in the garden, inhabiting 

 a small tent or even sleeping in the open. At other times the garden- 

 ers and their families live in the towns, going each morning afoot 

 or on donkey back to their work. There are no permanent habita- 

 tions among the gardens, as the towns, being situated on higher, dry 

 land (PL VI, fig. 3), are considered healthier. Even under these 

 circumstances, however, the population of the Jerid is ravaged in 

 summer and early autumn by malaria. The population, as a whole, 

 is anemic, feeble, and subject to various diseases, notwithstanding the 

 fine winter climate. 



PROPAGATION. 



In Tunis, as elsewhere in the Sahara, the date palm is intention- 

 ally propagated only by means of the offshoots that spring from the 

 base of the trunk (PL V), which, in well-cared-for gardens, are 

 taken only from trees belonging to good varieties and known for 

 the quality of their fruit. But in neglected gardens and in waste 

 ground many seedlings (" el hachana ") spring up fortuitously, 

 and in this way doubtless the many varieties have arisen. Seedling 

 palms are, of course, rarely true to type, although the writer was 

 gravely assured by an intelligent Arab that to make them come true 

 it is only necessary to transplant them two or three times, and that 

 this method is sometimes resorted to when suckers are not procurable, 

 in order to perpetuate very rare varieties ! 



Manuring and watering freely are said to stimulate suckering, and 

 the construction of a " dokana," or circular mound of earth and 

 clay a (PL V, fig. 2), around the base of the palm is a good way to 

 obtain strong, well-rooted offshoots. If an offshoot starts from the 

 trunk some distance above the surface of the soil it can be made to 

 take root by cutting away the outer leaves and fastening a basket 

 filled with earth around its base. Offshoots produced by palms 

 growing in open places, unshaded by other trees, are considered to 



a Illustrated also in Bui. 86, Bureau of Plant Industry, PI. V, fig. 1. 

 92 



