June3] PROCEEDINGS. [1890.The invention of artificial fertilization,however far it may go
backin antiquity, presents no difficulty in explanation, being only
a facilitation of the natural process. It has been statedin the 17th
centurythatthe groves of wild palmsin the deserts of Africa without
any cultivation producedgoodand plentiful cropsof dates, the wind
conveyingthe pollen fromthe male to the female palms.* Whether
anything of the kind hasbeen observed of late years I have no
information,but it is obvious thatthe produce of such naturalfertili
zation,depending on the number and positionof the male palms,
mustat best be scanty andirregular. It is not to be wondered at
thatartificial methodshave cometo prevail generally wherethe
cultureof the date is carried on. Thesemethodsare seen fromthe
foregoing passages to be three in number. That described by
Herodotusconsistedin tying maleinflorescencesto the fruit-bearing
branches. In modern timesthe more economical arrangementof
insertingone or two sprigs, mentionedby Shaw, is in general use in
date-growingdistricts. Thereis an elaborate illustrateddescription
of it by the eminent botanist Kaempfer.f Lastly,it appears that
the plan of shaking the pollen fromthe male overthe female flowers
not only obtained in ancient, but has been continued in modern
times. It is this method whichespeciallyconcerns the present
argument.
I now proceed to examine the form of the male inflorescence
whichis conveyed to the fruit-bearing date-palm,in order to show
its close resemblanceto the sculptured cone carriedin the hand of
the Assyrian wingeddeity,of which a figure is here inserted(Plate
II, fig. 6) from one of the colossal bas-reliefsin the British Museum.
In Kaempfer's treatiseon the Palm alreadymentioned,a drawing if
givenof the male palm-inflorescence,strippedof its spathe and with
the flowers openandripefor scattering the pollen, thatis to say, in
the precise conditionrequiredfor comparison ; this drawingis here
copied (Plate II, fig. 8). Actual specimens are,however, more
satisfactoryto deal with. By the kindness of my friend Mr. Thomas
Hanbury,whohas sent me from his famousgardenat La Mortola, on
the Riviera,severaldate-palminflorescences,I am able to exhibitthese
to the Society, and photographs fromthemare copied as illustrations
* Prosperus Alpinus, " De Plantis ^Cgypti,"Padua, 1640,p. 25. Juliu
Ponledera," Anthologia," Padua,1720,citesthis passage.
t Kaempfer, Amauitat.Exotic,Fasc.V. Lemgo,1712,Fasc.IV.
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