'IRAQ AND THE PERSIAN GULF' [‎296v] (595/862)

458 IRRIGATION, AGRICULTURE, AND MINOR INDUSTRY
content and are much used for the distilling of spirit. Sayir, the
commonest in the Basra region, is the easiest to grow and is very
resistant to disease, but poor in quality and sometimes inedible, and
its yield is not heavy, 37 lb. a tree, but it is widely planted and much
used for extracting date syrup. The choicest varieties of dates seldom
reach even the local markets of Iraq but are eaten by their growers.
Date-palms yield best when the soil is well tilled. Though they
have been known to live untilled for fifty years, both quality and
quantity of yield are then poor. In the Shatt al Arab district the land
is spade-dug 4 feet deep every fourth year; the use of ploughs is
prevented by the irrigation channels and usually a quarter of each
plot is dug every year. Elsewhere an annual but shallower ploughing
is customary. Careful irrigation is equally necessary for good yields.
On the Euphrates and Diyala this is done by flow from canals, and
around Baghdad by lift from the Tigris, but in the Shatt al Arab area
the plantations are irrigated by the action of the tide, which drives
the fresh water of the river up into the creeks (p. 440). Near Fao the
water is saline at spring tides and the fruit is of poorer quality; else
where mineral content, as magnesium-sulphate at Badra or sulphur
at Shithatha, does not affect growth. The average number of palms
per acre varies considerably, in the Shatt al Arab zone, between 84
and 176. A very common proportion is 122 female palms, 3 male
palms, with 15 young plants and about 40 other fruit-trees to the
acre. Male palms are grown specially, near Fao, for the export of
pollen to other areas (photos. 19, 56, 170, 176).
The palm flower is bisexual and needs artificial fertilization to
ensure heavy crops. The cultivators climb the palm and fertilize the
female inflorescence either with a sprig of a male flower or with
pollen from a muslin bag, usually in April. The harvest is in August,
when there is an influx of tribesmen to help in the gathering. There
are several stages of ripeness, of which the last three are edible:
khalal, sweet and juicy; ratab, moist and firm; and tamar, toffee-like,
the condition of all exported dates.
Total production in normal times averages about 288,000 tons, of
which about half are exported and half consumed within Iraq either
as food or as the raw material of the spirit industry (p. 473). The
date-palm is also used for a remarkable number of subsidiary pur
poses. Date stones are pounded for cattle fodder. Its wood yields a
light strong timber for building houses, boats, bridges, or furniture,
and can be used for the manufacture of paper. The leaves are used
for baskets, and the outer fibres of the trunk for rope-making.