MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 93 
The plant, which measures about eleven feet in height 
and twenty-one inches in diameter at the thickest place 
and weighs over a thousand pounds, has been placed in the 
center of the yucca dome. tt came well crated and packed 
in branches of the desert creosote bush and sustained little 
or no injury in the journey. 
A FRUITING DATE PALM 
A recent acquisition of unusual interest is a fruiting speci- 
men of date palm (Phoenix sts iad Owing to various 
causes date palms do not ordinarily produce fruit in the 
greenhouse and it is only when plants already bearing fruit 
are secured from date-producing regions that an war ow 
idea of this important tod-vinldin plant may be had here. 
In order to give visitors to the Garden such an opportunity, 
a small date palm, bearing a cluster of over one hundred 
and fifty green but almost full grown fruits, was secured 
from Yuma, Arizona, and has been placed along the west 
wall of the palm house directly opposite the front entrance. 
The date ordinarily is associated with Arabia, Mesopo- 
tamia, and northern Africa, and while it is true that these 
are at present the only commercially important date-pro- 
ducing regions, it must not be supposed that date culture is 
confined to these localities. India and Mexico too yield dates, 
though of a poor quality owing to a lack of proper cultural 
methods, and the industry furthermore is gradually and 
ereenns. permanently establishing itself in the United 
tates. 
The date palm thrives in a great variety of soils but is 
unique in that it requires an abundance of water at the roots, 
but a hot, dry atmosphere for good fruit production. The ary, 
hot atmosphere is obviously obtainable in most cases only 
in arid or semi-arid regions and under those conditions the 
necessary supply of water can usually be furnished only by 
some system of irrigation. In the date-producing sections 
of the Old World many types of irrigation — some of them 
extremely crude— are employed, though in some cases a 
natural high water level or a periodic inundation supplies 
the requisite amount of water to the roots. In the United 
States the hot and dry portions of southern California and 
Arizona are adapted to date culture where recently the 
n water become available through irrigation. 
Dieta paisa. i. e., the “off-shoots,” or “suckers,” of date 
palms, have been introduced from various date-growing 
regions of the Old World; the experiments in many cases 
