Page 48 - PERSIAN 3 1883_1890

administration report of the Persian gulf political
42
The agency of winds and various nectar-loving flics and insects docs not seem to bo suffi­
cient to effect the necessary fecundation, ns in such eases the fruit yielded is stated to become
abortive or blighted, with little flesh, without stone, and totally insipid, and is termed “ Shis/*
Consequently human agency is considered essential for a fruitful impregnation.
The male spathe, as soon as it has attained its full size and maturity, which is known to
the cultivator by certain signs and indications, such as a faint rustling, sound, elicited when tho
central part of the spathc is gently pressed, or a peculiar seminal odour, detected by making a
slight indentation in the marginal part of tho spathe, so ns to expose tho flower, which is cut
at its root and taken down.
The enclosing spathe is slit open and tho flower-sprigs are gently detached from the spadix,
and carefully preserved in a basket, which is suspended in a spot protected from drafts of wind;
the sprigs are allowed to dry for 20 to hours before being used.
As soon as the female flowers have split open the spathe under their growing pressure,
the cultivator considers it time to commence tho operation of fertilisation. lie bakes the
flower-twigs of the male palm, and deposits one or two in each bunch of the female blossom,
lightly binding it up with a strip of date leaf. If the cultivator finds that some of tho larger
spathes have not split, to save him the trouble of reclirahing, he slits them open and deposits
the flower-sprigs in the blossom, as before. Only very small ones he leaves untouched, to be
attended to, if necessary, subsequently, when they havo attained maturity. But, as a rule, be
docs not allow all the flower-spathes, which vary from 12 to 21, to remain on the palm and form
fruit, because by doing so tbe fruit becomes small aud degenerate, and during the next year the
yield of the fruit is lessened. According to the vigour of the palm, which he knows by ex­
perience, lie leaves 8 to 12 bunches to form fruit. Tho excess is removed and consumed by
his people and friends. The sprigs of the male flower are preserved in a dry form one or two
months and used as occasion demands. They are, however, before being used, slightly moistened
with water to prevent tbe pollen from beiug scattered and blown away by the wind.
It is stated that sometimes, when the male flower is not in sufficient quantity at " Kharg,"
tbe cultivators import it from Busrab. Pollen of one year cannot, it is stated, be preserved for
use during tbe next year, as it becomes spoiled. When the female blossom has thus boon
treated with pollen, tbe supply of water is cut off for a time, varying from one and a half to
two months, as excess of water is said to be detrimental to a proper fertilisation.
Tbe general method adopted for cultivating the date palm in these parts, where it is grown
for economic and commercial purposes, is that it is planted in extensive groves for facilities of
tending them and collecting tbe fruit. Spots are selected where abundance of water is avail­
able in shape of river, spring, “ kanat," or well water; in other places, where water from
wells is scanty, such spots are selected as can be irrigated by rain-torrents during the rainy
season.
A plot of ground is selected according to the number of palms which it is intended to
plant in a grove, which may consist of 80 to 150 or 200 palms, planted in regular rows, with
a distance of 12 to 15 feet between them. The grove is surrounded by a high “bund” for
purposes of admitting and retaining water in the grove, and generally regulating its irrigation,
being provided with inlets and outlets to admit and get rid of excess of water, especially that
from rain-torrents.
For the first two or three months, after the offshoots have been planted, they are watered,
each separately, by water carried to them in pots; great care is taken that no mud gets into the
heart or crown of the young plant, as it proves destructive to it. After the plants have struck
root they are watered once a week, a fortnight, or a longor interval is allowed to elapse, but
it is essential that they most be well watered once a month. When they have grown up
and have attained some age, they are watered once a month during tho hot months only. At
Busrah, where water is abundant from the river, deep aud wide trenches are dug between the
rows of the palms, and filled with water. But where water is scanty it is allowed to run down
in small channels to the foot of each palm, the ground being previously well dug up, loosened*
and turned over to allow of its thorough saturation.
Vegetables, lucerne, &c., are grown, as at Bahrain, in these groves, such a cultivation being
considered highly beneficial in improving tho soil. With this object also the soil is ploughed
and turned over once a year to render it soft, porous, and permeable to air moisture.
In places which border tho sea, fins of Awdl or Lookhm, a species of Ray-fiah, nre used
for purposes of manuring the palm; two or three bits are buried at tho foot of each pahn, and
it is regularly watered once or twice a week until tho whole is absorbed and disappears j of