50 DATE VARIETIES AND DATE CULTURE IN TUNIS. 



tory results with the date palm, some advocating that of camels, 

 others that of donkeys. But the total supply is too limited to allow 

 of much choice in this respect, and every source is drawn upon, 

 even to the scrapings of chicken yards and the refuse from human 

 habitations. 



OTHER CULTURAL METHODS. 



When the palm has reached the age of 2 years, the old leaves and 

 leaf stalks are trimmed off for the first time, but not too close to the 

 ground, as in that case no suckers will develop. On the other hand, 

 if left on the trunk these parts decay and sometimes cause the central 

 bud to rot. It is considered important to work the soil around the 

 palms to a moderate depth in the second and again in the third year 

 after planting. Thereafter the ground should be worked over as 

 often as possible. All cultivation is laboriously done with the mes- 

 sah, or short-handled hoe (see PL II, fig. 2, and text fig. 3, p. 44). 



It is considered advisable not to permit the development of the 

 earliest fruit clusters (which sometimes appear when the tree is only 

 4 years old) , as too early production diminishes the vigor of the palm. 

 In regard to the choice of other fruit trees to be planted among the 

 date palms, figs and olives, being relatively shallow rooting, are 

 recommended in preference to apricots, the latter being deep-rooted 

 trees that compete with the palms themselves. 



POLLINATION AND MALE PALMS. 



The operation of pollination, which was not witnessed by the 

 writer, has been described from personal observation by Mr. W. T. 

 Swingle. 6 It is said to take place in the Jerid usually from March 

 15 to April 15. Male palms are not distinguished there according 

 to variety, but according to their time of flowering, whether early, 

 intermediate, or late, c and also, it is said, according to whether they 

 originate from seed or from suckers. As a rule, the male palms re- 

 semble each other much more closely than do the female palms belong- 

 ing to different varieties. They are distinguished from female palms 

 in general by more numerous leaves and leaflets (PL IV, fig. 2) and 

 often by a stouter trunk. According to M. Minangoin, the leaf 

 stalks of male palms are very stout and the foliage is fine and soft 



looking. 



1 



One owner of a garden assured the writer that camel manure is " too 

 strong" to be used in irrigated land, although it can be applied with perfect 

 safety under the conditions prevailing in t^ie Oued Souf. 



& Bui. 53, Bureau of Plant Industry, pp. 26-29. 



Five suckers of each type of male palm, 15 in all, were imported into the 

 United State: from the Jerid. 

 92 



