Vol. V. No. 116. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



311 



PROPAGATION OP THE DATE PALM. 



In a recent issue of the Agricidtii.ral Ledger 

 <1906— Xo. 1) Mr. F. Fletcher, M.A.,,B.Sc., deals with 

 the cultivation of the date palm. The following notes 

 on propagation are extracted from this paper : — 



The date palm may be propagated in two wajs, viz., 

 (a) by means of .seed, and (b) by means of 'offshoots.' 



Of these methods the latter is the only rational one for 

 the reasons that, if seeds are sown, about halt the .seedlings 

 are males, and, of course, yield no fruit, while female seedlings 

 seldom produce fruit of as good quality as the tree from 

 which the seeds were obtained. 



Now one male tree will, under cultivation, suflice for the 

 fertilization of about 100 females, so that if 98 per cent, of 

 the male seedlings are not destroyed, about half the area of 

 the plantation is occupied by useless trees. This removal of 

 the superfluous males cannot take place until about si.x years, 

 at the earliest, after sowing, since at that age flowers are first 

 produced. In consequence, for si.x years, at least, half the 

 plantation consists of trees from which no revenue can ever 

 be obtained. 



The reason why seedling female palms do not produce 

 fruit of the same quality as their female parent is that the 

 latter is in general pollinated (artificially) from a male of an 

 inferior variety, and although, except in the case of maize 

 and. a few other plants, cross-fertilization of this kind has no 

 effect on the quality of the resulting fruit, it will, of course, 

 influence the offspring. Probably, therefore, out of 100 

 seedlings from a good female parent only about six would 

 produce fruit of good quality. 



PEOP.\(iATION BY MEANS OF OFFSHOOTS. 



This, as was stated above, is the only rational method 

 of propagation, since it is thus only that palms, true both in 

 sex and in quality of fruit to the type of the parent, can be 

 secitred. We can by this method plant 100 female trees, on 

 the quality of the fruit of which we can rely, and the one 

 male necessary to fertilize these, without wasting time and 

 land in cultivating superfluous male trees and female trees 

 which later prove to bear fruit of an inferior quality. 



The offshoots are suckers borne at the base of the stem 

 of trees between the limiting ages of about six and sixteen 

 years. Trees younger than .six years of age and older than 

 sixteen do not, as a rule, bear offshoots. Offshoots cut from 

 a male tree will give rise to male trees, and from female trees, 

 females ; in the latter case the fruit will be of the same 

 quality as that of the parent palm. 



Offshoots are removed from their parent when from three 

 to six years of age. The}' then weigh about 6 lb. The 

 operation of removal is performed with an ordinary hatchet 

 by cutting down parallel to the parent stem. The large 

 leaves are then cut away, as in the case of seedlings, leaving 

 only the rootless stump of the ottshoot, with its bud protected 

 by leaf -stalks and young leaves. 



The offshoots should be planted in rows 25 feet apart 

 with similar intervals between plants in the row. For this 

 purpose holes 3 feet deep and the same distance in diameter 

 are made in the soil ; halt of the excavated earth is mixed 

 with its own volume of farmyard manure with 4 Bu. or .5 lb. of 

 oil-cake and filled in, the offshoot being set in the centre of 

 this hole. 



In doing thi.s, it is most important that the bud in the 



centre of the leaf-stalks and young leaves should not be choked 

 by being covered with soil. For this reason the offshoot 

 should be planted with the bud 2 or 3 inches above the 

 general level of the ground, and a circular trench, 1 foot in 

 width, be dug round it for purposes of irrigation. 



The offshoots should be watered every day for the first 

 month, twice a week for the second month, and thenceforward 

 every month for at least a year. 



During the first year after planting out, the offshoots 

 should be protected from November to March by wrapping 

 them closely in straw or matting. 



VIRGEN RUBBER OF COLOMBIA. 



Mr. Robert Thompson contributes to the Juiirnal 

 iif the Jamaica Agricultural Society an account of 

 the ' virgeri ' rubber of Colombia, of which the following 

 is a short summary : — ■ 



This rubber tree, which is indigenous to Colombia, is 

 a species of the genus Sapium, belonging, as do nearly all 

 the important rubber-yielding trees, to the order Eiiploor- 

 biaceae. It is an important rubber-yielding species, whose 

 area of distribution is confined to a very narrow zone in the 

 interior of the republic. 



This tree was discovered about twenty-two years ago, 

 when thousands of trees were cut down, and hundreds of 

 tons of rubber, extracted therefrom, were exported to the 

 United States. One tree then encountered by Mr. Thompson 

 was over 100 feet in height, with a trunk 2-J- to 3 feet in 

 diameter ; when cut down it yielded over 1 cwt. of dry rubber. 

 At that time the price realized for this rubber averaged 

 about 3s. per lb., only a few pence less than the price then 

 obtained for Para rubber. 



Mr. Thompson suggests that this tree might be cultivated 

 in the mountainous districts of .Jamaica. The elevation above 

 sea-level, at which it was found growing in a state of nature, 

 4 ° from the equator, ranged from 5,000 to 7,000 feet. In 

 the course of a year the plants in a Colombia plantation 

 attained a height of from 6 to 8 and 10 feet. In three 

 years the stems were 5 to 6 inches in diameter. Under the 

 elaborate cultural treatment to which the other species of 

 rubber are now subjected, there can be no doubt that, when 

 50 to 60 feet high, in less than ten years, not less than 1 ft. 

 of rubber per tree will result, and a few years later double or 

 even treble this quantity per annum. 



In certain parts of the temperate climate of the parish 

 of Manchester, with its abundant humidity and its peculiarly 

 constituted soil, the ' virgen ' rubber could be cultivated with 

 great success. There are thousands of acres of land obtain- 

 able above an elevation of 2,700 feet eminently suited to its 

 cultivation in the parish. 



As the ' virgen ' rubber is a gigantic tree, care must be 

 taken to plant the trees wide apart. The permanent distance 

 might be 24 feet. In ten or twelve years the trees would 

 cover the ground. Kegular crops would result from the trees 

 when eight years old and annually afterwards. 



Seeds have been supplied by Mr. Thompson to the 

 U. S. Department of Agriculture for e.xperimeutal cultivation 

 in the south of Florida. 



It may be mentioned that a large quantity of 

 seed of the ' virgen ' rubber is being obtained for trial 

 in Jamaica by the Secretary of the Agricultural 

 Society, through whom the Imperial Commissioner of 

 Agriculture is also securing a supply for trial, probably, 

 in St. Lucia and Dominica. 



