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=== The Palm of Egypt == | === The Palm of Egypt == | ||
Finding myself for | Finding myself for several months in the most beautiful countryside of Basso – Egypt, owned by the late Mr. Serra and adorned with six thousand Palms sown by him, I had the idea of getting information from the indigenous people on something that is ignored in Europe, about a majestic, unique, and most useful plant. | ||
=== Sowing/Planting of the Kernel === | === Sowing/Planting of the Kernel === | ||
''''Naua-el-ballah Glu' Nauaja'''' (date pits) are distinguished by an external making from which the ''''Male or Female'''' tree is born, but it seems | ''''Naua-el-ballah Glu' Nauaja'''' (date pits) are distinguished by an external making from which the ''''Male or Female'''' tree is born, but in general it seems that they have disregarded this advantageous difference. Even families of eastern Egypt, many farmers and even vendors of this fruit, ensure that the pits that are of the opposite part from the longitudinal DICIZIONE; that have a small round circle with a point in the center; and that are sown produce fruit bearing trees (that is, ''''female'''') and from the other pits without these distinctions produce ''''male'''' trees, which flower but do not bear fruit. | ||
Planted during autumn in fertile soil and irrigated after around fifteen days, the pit begins to germinate; at a month, it produces some small leaves which remain long, narrow, and grooved lengthwise until around eight months | Planted during autumn in fertile soil and irrigated after around fifteen days, the pit begins to germinate; at a month, it produces some small leaves which remain long, narrow, and grooved lengthwise until around eight months. There are no more than five or six of these leaves which vary in height depending on how favorable the circumstances of the terrain are for one or two palms. | ||
===Metamorphosis of the Leaves === | ===Metamorphosis of the Leaves === | ||
At this | At this age, these leaves, joined like the blade of a spear and all of the same shape, change their form, splitting apart at their grooves like the opening of a compass; positioned one within the other to form a branch adorned with narrow, long, and TERRUCINANTI leaves with very sharp thorns. | ||
Each month the plant forms one of these branches | Each month the plant forms one of these branches and destroys the previous ones; the more it grows the more branches it produces in the span of a year. | ||
At this age, the branches grow to fifty to one hundred centimeters long and have a diameter of around a meter, but the trunk grows very little and remains short. | At this age, the branches grow to fifty to one hundred centimeters long and have a diameter of around a meter, but the trunk grows very little and remains short. | ||
=== How to Recognize the Age of a Palm === | === How to Recognize the Age of a Palm === | ||
Recognizing the age of a palm is not an | Recognizing the age of a palm is not an issue needing to be resolved, but the plant's range of growth that it exhibits can mislead someone. This is seen by the palms that are twenty to thirty feet tall and twenty to thirty years old, compared to others that are five feet tall yet of the same age. | ||
It is said that the palm lives for two to three centuries and grows in the Memfi region | It is said that the palm lives for two to three centuries and grows in the Memfi region to as tall as eighty to one hundred feet. To know a Palm's true age, one does not count the number of GERIT cuts as many believe, but rather (in general) four cuts, one on top of the other, equals one year, since there are so many cuts around the plant itself. | ||
=== | ===Various Forms of the Palm === | ||
Farmed palms generally have a cylindrical trunk, but some vary in being | Farmed palms generally have a cylindrical trunk, but some vary in being cone-shaped, straight, or backwards; in some plants, one sees the perforations in different parts of the trunks, from others, areas that are thin and worn out at a certain height, and when they are abandoned in forests and create offspring (a kind of shady area in oases that are beneficial for the plants), the external plants bend towards the ground, they produce a root at the halfway point of the trunk, and little by little it curves towards the center to form a semi-circle shaped tree. | ||
===Circumcision of the Palm === | ===Circumcision of the Palm === | ||
As soon as one wants to regenerate the trunk of palm that is weak or deficient, they make holes in the trunk at a meter around the GERIT and stick various pieces of wood in them. They put silt from the Nile all around these pieces of wood | As soon as one wants to regenerate the trunk of palm that is weak or deficient, they must make holes in the trunk at a meter around the GERIT and stick various pieces of wood in them. They put silt from the Nile all around these pieces of wood and they frequently dampen them. They leave it until the next year, until the season when it has formed new roots; then they cut the trunk underneath the silt, uproot the old one, and transplant the top so that the plant and what is called the ''''Tahara'''' (circumcision) are regenerated. | ||
===The Difficulty in Recognizing the Sex of a Palm === | ===The Difficulty in Recognizing the Sex of a Palm === | ||
It is known to be impossible to tell the sex of a palm before it flowers. The famous Mohamed Aly, who was heavily engaged in the well-being of Egypt, had promised a large reward to whoever could tell the if a palm was male or female before it flowered; he questioned all the gardeners and none could say. Mr. Serra told me that a boastful Arab, who was a gardener from Lake Edko, came to his town and boasted that by looking at the branches, he could tell the sex of the plant. Mr. Serra sent for a branch of a male tree to be brought, keeping the so-called expert at his house to show it to him. He said it was female, they laughed in his face, but he was unperturbed, like a con artist used to the jeers, excused/justified himself with the usual ''''maalesc'''' (it does not matter) and so he proved what the great prince wanted, and before the SICITURA nothing is known. | It is known to be impossible to tell the sex of a palm before it flowers. The famous Mohamed Aly, who was heavily engaged in the well-being of Egypt, had promised a large reward to whoever could tell the if a palm was male or female before it flowered; he questioned all the gardeners and none could say. Mr. Serra told me that a boastful Arab, who was a gardener from Lake Edko, came to his town and boasted that by looking at the branches, he could tell the sex of the plant. Mr. Serra sent for a branch of a male tree to be brought, keeping the so-called expert at his house to show it to him. He said it was female, they laughed in his face, but he was unperturbed, like a con artist used to the jeers, excused/justified himself with the usual ''''maalesc'''' (it does not matter) and so he proved what the great prince wanted, and before the SICITURA nothing is known. | ||