BY T. MORRIS MACKXIOHT, F.L.S. 
Oo 
are consequently below the suviace, and can be employed for a 
double purpose : they facilitate circulation in the oasis, and tlie 
Tvatei'S, after having refreshed the gardens, discharge t emse ves 
into these hollow ways.” 
Soil.. 
Meyen,in his “ Geography of Plants,” page 2, states that a 
sandy soil suits the date best ; and Sonnmi in his “ Travels in 
Egypt” saw it growing in the sands as well as in the more 
fertile parts. It will luxuriate even in saltish soil, and the wa er 
for its irrigation may be slightly brackish. The artesian water 
oftheOued Rir district in Algeria contains from 0-57 oz. 
1'07 oz. of dry salt in a gallon. Brigade-surgeon Bonavia says 
that on the whole it thrives best in sandy, granitic, schist c 
and calcareous soils. The northern half of Arabia, winch i. c 
important centre for date culture, is granitic. 
Inflorescence. 
The date is a dioecious tree, having the male 
plant, and the female or fruiting ones on ano ler. 
dowers are considerably larger than the female, ^ 
stamens only, and form a closed-up, lolded, 
viousto the ripening of the pollen) in an -vel^pe called 
spathe. “It blossoms,” says Mr. Tristram in 
Great Sahara,’ “ in the mouth of March. The 
L xr aiiovf calvx a thin petalous corolla much lai^e , 
borne on a very short anthers, the two 
with six stamens, turmshed w o Innaitudinal 
u 1 1 • n w formed of three pieces, constituting tmee 
whorl of which is loimeu u i- form of a 
distinct pistils, each itself, ripens, 
hook. Of these ^ ^ .vith a slight epidermis 
and becomes an and slightly viscous pulp, and an en- 
of a yellowusb red a so 1 enveloping the nucleus, 
docarp represented by a on the opposite 
which IS the seed. ihe • ti.p cpvm ” Baron Mueller 
side of it is a depression contaiuin,, „,ffficient for fifty females. 
states that one male tree is ei^^hty to two hundred 
Watts allows one or two males to .horn ei.i y 
