Timely Hints for Farmers. 269 



later-blossoming flowers, while the rest remain undeveloped and 

 seedless It is not necessary to depend upon the pollen produced 

 the same year that it is desired to pollenate the female blossoms, 

 since pollen may be kept from year to year and dusted upon the 

 clusters of female flowers at the proper time. 



After having made sure that the female flowers have been ad- 

 equately pollenated, the date trees will require little attention, ex- 

 cept occasional watering, for several months. As the dates ap- 

 proach their full size, it is important that the trees be supplied 

 with an abundance of water, it being impossible to give them too 

 much water from the time the fruit begins to ripen until it is fully 

 matured. A good way to insure a thorough soaking of the soil 

 about the roots of the trees is to make a basin 15 to 25 feet in di- 

 ameter, by excavating some of the soil and throwing up a circular 

 ridge, and then to fill this basin with water about once a week. 



As the dates begin to ripen, they will be devoured by various 

 species of birds, the cactus-wren and the Gila woodpecker being 

 the most destructive about Phoenix. In order to save their dates 

 from these depredations, some have resorted to a procedure that 

 has resulted in the wasting of much fruit — the removal of theclus- 

 ters from the tree that they may be taken to a place of safety. 

 Green dates once severed from the tree do not mature properly. 

 In order that the tannic acid with which they are abundantly sup- 

 plied may all change to the sugar that is so desirable and which 

 causes them to be sodelicious, it is necessary that an abundance of 

 water reach the fruit. And this cannot take place if the bunches 

 are removed from the tree, and thus cut off from their water sup- 

 ply. If the ends of the cut stems are placed in a vessel of water 

 and the cluster treated as a bouquet, the unripe dates will wither 

 more slowly and more of them will come to maturity. Or the 

 clusters may be enclosed in an air-tight box, and loss of moisture 

 from the fruit thus checked, the water in the large stem com- 

 monly being sufficient to enable the necessary chemical changes 

 to take place. But in no case will the flavor be equal to that of 

 those ripening naturally upon the tree. 



A better way to save the fruit from the ravages of the birds is 

 to cover the cluster with cheese-cloth. This can be easily and 

 cheaply done by making sacks of the proper size, slipping one 



