On this page
-
Text (1)
-
126 EBUITS IK THEIR SEASON.
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
¦ - - A » Vi. Data. Respecting Dates. Th...
be . ensured unless the pollen : be collected froni the one and deposited disperses on tlie oth it er in , for the if wrong this be 1 dir not ection done and it is it foun does d not that reach the wind the p often
istil-, liferous flowers in sufficient quantity to prove availing * . As soon as the blossoms on a female tree have emerged from their spathe , the
stameniferous Arab seeks another onethoug tree h , which the distinguishing he knows , b y flower experience s have to not be yet a
, bursfc their cerement , for had this taken place the pollen would have become spilled and lost , and it is therefore a special point in
cultivation to know the exact time when the cluster is ripe but yet _., unopened . Tearing away the enveloping" veil , he then takes out
the small blossomed fragment sp among ike , gentl 1 the y little divides branches it into of pieces the , flower and then -stalk lays within one
the spathe-of the pistilliferous tree , completing the ceremony by carefully covering the whole with a palm-leaf . The flowers on this
detached spray soon shed their pollen , and then wither away , and about four or five months after fecundationthe fruita _one-saeded
, , drupe , begins to swell , and , when nearly full-grown , the heavy clusters are tied to the base of the tree to prevent injury from the
wind , for the burden of a good tree amounts to no less than from fifteen to twenty clusters of dates , each weighing from fifteen to
twenty pounds , a single tree thus sometimes producing * a crop of above two hundred-weight of fruit in one year . By June , the
gathering , which occupies a period of two months , is begun ; temporary huts of . palm-branches are erected in the valleys , and crowds
of revellers pass the hours in joyous conviviality , for the harvest time of the Northern nations and the vintage of the South are here
combined in one , and the Oriental date-gathering is therefore a festival indeedan abundant crop spreading gladness over the land
, , while a year of failure becomes truly a year of gloom . When left to ripen fully , the fruit is most delicious ; but in this
case it must be eaten almost immediately , and cannot be kept long nor carried far without fermenting ; and therefore , when intended
for preserving , the dates are gathered a little before perfect ripeness , but require no other _prejoaration than merely to be laid on mats
the and stalks left in but the the sun branches to dry . are In cut E gypt off with they the are fruit not stripped them from and , upon
, , packed into baskets made for the purpose ,, with an aperture only just large enough for them to be thrust through ; then boats are
laden with them and despatched . to Cairo , where they ripen in succession after their arrival . In Upper Egypt they form the entire
subsistence of a large part of the population , but in Lower Egypt fewer are eaten on the spot , the greater quantity being reserved _,
for sale . The seed of the datelike that of all endogensmonocotyledenous
, , , or forming one undivided mass , is an oblong cylindrical stone , marked lengthwise down one side with a ventral indentation or
furrow , and looking sufficiently like a vastly magnified grain of rye t
126 Ebuits Ik Their Season.
126 _EBUITS IK THEIR SEASON .
-
-
Citation
-
English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), April 1, 1861, page 126, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01041861/page/54/
-