6 
THE TROPICAL AGRICtJLTURiST. [July 1. 1901. 
continue fruitful for about 150 years. Several bunches 
of flowers are formed in a season, each producing 
often as many as 200 dates. Select trees are reported 
as having borne a crop worth £2, but the average 
may be put down at 4s. per tree annually, common 
kinds less than Is. A good date tree is sometimes 
exchanged for a camel in North Africa. 
FI5CUNDATI0N. 
In Algeria and all over the Bast," says M> 
Cossona, a botanist who has studied the subject on 
the spot, " towards the month of April the tree begins 
to flower, and then artificial fecundation is practised 
extensively. The male spathes are opened at the time 
when a sort of ci ackling is produce<l under the finger, 
which indicates that tbe pollen of the flowers in the 
cluster is sufficiently developed, yet has not escaped 
from the anthers ; the cluster is then divided into 
portions, each containing se'en or eight blooms. 
Having placed these pieces in the hood of his burnous, 
the workman Llimbs to the summit of the female 
tree, supporting himself by a loop of cord passed round 
his loins, and at the same time round the trunk of 
the tree, and, having split open the spathe with a 
knife, he slips in one of the fragments, wtiich he 
interlaces with the branches of the female cluster, 
the fecundation of which is made certain." Archer 
says that wild plants are fecundated by bees. The 
Arabs even keep the poll n from one year to another 
in case the male flower should fail the succeeding 
season. According to Watts the pollen is said to 
remain activfi for one or two months after its removal 
from the tree, so the flower is carefully kept and 
used as ocuassion demands. Hasselquist, who 
travelled in Egypt, describes the operations as follows : 
— " When the spadix has female flowers that come 
oat of its spathe, they search on a tree that has 
male flowers, which they know by experiencei for 
the spadix has not yet burst out of its spathe. 
This they open, tike out the spadix, and cut it length- 
wise in several pieces, but take care not to hurt 
the flowers. A piece of this spadix, with male 
flowers, they put length-wise between the simll 
branches of the spadix which has female flowers, and 
then lay the leaf of a palm over the branches. In 
this situation I yet saw the greatest part of the 
spadices which bore their young fruit ; b it the male 
flowers which were put between were withered. The 
Arab also stated that unless they in this manner 
wed and fecundate the date-tree it bears no fruit ; 
secondly, they always take the precaution to preserve 
some unopened spathes, with male flowers, from 
one year to another, to be applied for this purpose 
in case the male flowers should miscarry or suffer 
damage ; thirdly, if they permit the spadix of the 
male flowers to hurst or come out it becomes 
useless for fecundation ; therefore, the person who 
cultivates date trees must be careful to hit the right 
time of assisting the fecundation, which is almost 
the only nicety in their cultivation." 
To climb trees which have no branches but at the 
top, and the straight and slender stem of which 
cannot support a ladder, the Egyptians employ a sort 
of girth fastened to a rope that they pass round the 
tree. On this girth they seat themselves and rest 
their weight ; then, with the assistance of their feet, 
and holding the cord in both hands, they contrive to 
force the noose suddenly upwards so as to catch the 
rugged protuberances with which the stem is sym- 
metrically scudded, lorme.) at the origin of the branch- 
like leaves that are annually cut. By means of these 
successive springs the top of the tree is reached 
where, still -jittiug, they work at their ease, either 
ill lopping off the leaves or gathering fruit, and 
afterwards descend in the same manner. 
Professor Burnett says the age of bearing is from 
six to ten years, Haldane says seven years. Baron 
Muller says that trees from suckers commence to 
bear in five years and are in full bearing in ten 
years, 
The fig, pomegranate, and apricot, and sometimes 
the olive, are grown as auxiliary crops. I would 
suggest also the watermelon, pumpkin, vegetable 
marrow and lucerne. 
VABIETIES. 
Dr. James Richardson in a letter in '' Hooker's 
Journal of Botany," Vol. II., writing of the dates of 
Fezzan, describes forty-six varieties. Nineteen- 
twentieths of the inhabitants of Fezzan during nine 
months of the year live on dates. In Northern 
Arabia there are more than a hundred kinds of dates, 
each of which is peculiar to a district, and has its 
own special virtues. Many varieties of date exist, 
differing in shape, size, and colour of the fruit. 
Those of Gomera are large, and contain no seed. 
The Zadie variety produces the heaviest crop, 
averaging in full bearing trees 300 lb. to the tree. 
Professor Naudin states that the variety of " Datheres- 
sifia " ripens its fruit early in the season. The 
" Deglet Nour " is considered the best for keeping. 
TREATMENT OF FRUITS. 
Four or five months after the operation of fecun- 
dation has been performed the dates begin to swell, 
and when they have attained nearly their full size 
(about the beginning of August^ they are carefully 
tied to the base of the leaves to prevent them from 
being beaten and bruised by the wind. If meant to 
be preserved they are gathered a little before they 
are ripe, but when they are intended to be eaten 
fresh they are allowed to ripen perfectly, in which 
state they are very agreeable and refreshing. Ripe 
dates cannot be kept any length of time or conveyed 
to any great distance without fermenting and becoming 
acid, and therefore those which are intended for 
storing up, or for being carried to a distant market, 
are dried in the sun on mats. They are sent in this 
way to Europe from the Levant and Barbary. Each 
tree is capable of yielding only a certain number of 
good fruits, and on adult trees not more than 
twelve bunches are left to ripen. The whole cluster 
of fruit is cut before it is quite ripe, when it is 
put into a basket made for the purpose, having no 
other opening than a hole thiough which the branch- 
ing extremity of the cluster projects. In this situation 
the dates ripen successively. 
In the Hedjax (which is the northern half of Arabia) 
the new fruit called ruteh, comes in at the end of 
June and last two months. The people cannot there- 
for depend on the new fruit alone, but during the ten 
months of the year, when no ripe dates can be pro- 
cured, principally subsist on date paste, called aajoue 
which is prepared by pressing the fruit, when fully 
matured, into large baskets, "When the dates are 
allowed to remain on the tree till they are quite ripe, 
and have become soft and of a high red colour, they 
are formed into a hard solid paste or cake called 
adjoue. This is obtained by pressing the ripe dates 
forcibly into large baskets, each containing about 2 
cwt. In this state," continues Burokhardt, " the 
Bedouins export the adjoue, and in the market it is 
cut out of the basket and sold by the lb. During the 
monsoon the ships from the Persian Gulf bring adjoue 
from Bussorah to Djidda for sale in small baskets 
weighing about 10 lb, each ; this kind is preferred to 
every other," 
The date seeds or kernels are soaked for two days 
in water, when they become softened, and 
are given to camels, cows, and sheep instead 
of barley. There are shops in Medina, in 
Arabia, where nothing else is sold except date 
kernels, and the beggars are continually employed 
in all the main streets in picking up those that 
are thrown away. 
The best fruit is that which is gathered just 
before it is ripe and exposed to the sun for 
several days to mature. The crushed dates which 
arrive in England in bulk are inferior and damaged, 
having ripened on the trees and fallen. I have 
seen some beaatiful dates in London on the stalks. 
Theae, in the same way as raisins, hsive the short 
