PREPARING THE LAND FOR DATE PALMS. 



45 



shank and blade made in one piece of wrought iron and fitted with 

 n wooden handle. It somewhat resembles a sickle, but has a straight, 

 heavy, saw-edged blade nearly at right angles to the shank (fig. 4). 

 One man then grasps the offshoot and pulls down on it, while an- 

 other, armed with a chisel or a pick, pries it loose at its point of 

 junction with the parent tree. The remaining roots are now cut 

 off, and the sucker is ready to be planted. The cost of thus remov- 

 ing a sucker is generally 6 cents. 



If the offshoot is to be transported a considerable distance before 

 it is planted, it must be protected from drying by a wrapping of the 

 coarse fiber (leef) that invests the bases of the leaf stalks of the date 

 palm (fig. 5) or of some similar material. 



PREPARING THE LAND. 



The methods used in preparing the soil, especially if it contains 

 u alkali," are essentially the same whether the plantation is to be 

 made in new land or in an 

 old garden that has been 

 neglected. First, the irri- 

 gation and drainage ditches 

 are dug or are cleaned out. 

 Next, the soil is worked 

 thoroughly to a depth of 

 3 to 6 feet with the short- 

 handled hoe, or messah, 

 this operation being accom- 

 plished by digging a trench 

 of the required depth at 

 one side of the garden and 

 then working across. All 



atones, masses of gypsum, etc., encountered are carefully removed. 

 The whole garden is then flooded to wash out whatever salt has ac- 

 cumulated near the surface of the soil. When that is accomplished, 

 in order to facilitate irrigation the garden is divided up into " lands " 

 that vary greatly in size, but rarely exceed 120 square yards (1 are). 

 A donkey load of manure, carefully freed from straw, is frequently 

 worked into the soil of each " land." Often, during the next two or 

 three years, only vegetables, especially turnips, cabbage, and carrots, 

 are grown before date palms are planted. It costs 14^ cents to dig 

 15 feet of drainage ditch of the ordinary depth (5 feet), and from 

 4f to 13 cents annually to keep the same length in repair. Breaking 

 up the ground with a messah costs from 28^ to $1.25 per 20 square 

 feet, according to the depth of the hoeing and the character of the 

 land. 

 92 



FIG. 5. Camel carrying date offshoots wrapped in 

 palm fiber (leef) for transportation. 



