Reprinted from the Journal of the New York Botanical Garden, April, 1924 



THE VIABILITY OF DATE POLLEN ' 



(with plates 289 AND 290) 



For a period of six or eight weeks each spring the artificial or 

 hand pollination of dates is the chief and most important task of 

 the date-growers in the Coachella Valley and in the Imperial 

 Valley in California as well as in the Salt River Valley in Arizona. 

 Day after day the" pollinator" makes the rounds of the planta- 

 tion, equipped with the tools and supplies necessary for the work 

 at hand. At the time when a cluster of female flowers is opening 

 the operator climbs into the tree and places either a cluster of 

 male flowers or the pollen from such flowers among the female 

 flowers. It is his hope and trust that the currents of air will so 

 scatter the many thousands of minute pollen grains that some 

 will reach the stigmas of the various female flowers and that 

 there will be a good set of fruit. The particular methods 

 employed by growers differ somewhat in detail but the principal 

 feature of the operation is the same and has remained thus 

 during the centuries that dates have been under cultivation. 



It is the general practice to grow few male trees, as this entails 

 less expense for cultivation, fertilization of the soil, and irriga- 

 tion — all items of expense in a crop requiring such intensive 

 cultivation as does the date. The clusters of male flowers are 

 carefully cut and the great abundance of pollen produced by them 

 is collected and conserved for use when needed. 



Pollen is truly "gold dust" to the date-grower. But its 

 value and the success of its use in pollination depend first of all 

 on its viability — on whether it will grow. The date gardener 



1 Reprinted with a few changes in wording from The Los Angeles Times, 

 Farm and Tractor Section, for May 20, 1923. A report of investigations in 

 collaVjoration with Dr. W, T, Swingle of the U. S. Department of Agriculture. 



101 



