COMMERCIAL DATE GROWING 47 



Has there been anything in the history of this 

 work to change the verdict of science? Careful survey 

 of the entire field shows that there has not. The 

 seedlings, under perfect conditions as regards planting 

 and cultivation, have indeed distinguished themselves 

 in various ways. They have been made to grow faster, 

 to flower sooner, to bear fruit earlier, than anywhere 

 else. But the fundamental diflSculty, that of their 

 variability, remains, and there is no evidence to 

 prove that it has been diminished in any way. Only 

 one thing can diminish it — the scientific breeding of 

 a pure race.* American enterprise has already 

 undertaken this, but it will require many plant- 

 generations to accomplish the result desired. When 

 that time comes, seeds will be available that will 

 probably perpetuate the parent with fair accuracy. 

 But that is merely a possibility of the future, and as 

 far as the present commercial production of choice 

 dates is concerned it has absolutely no bearing. 



There are, of course, many seedlings which bear 



excellent fruit. Obviously, it is scientifically possible 



for a seedling to be better than its parent; but it is 



scientifically probable that it will be worse. All the 



varieties now in existence in the world are probably 



the result of the isolation of a chance seedling and its 



subsequent perpetuation by offshoots, and the creation 



of such new and improved varieties will go on in the 



United States just as much as, or more than, it has in 



other parts of the world. But this is purely an 



idealistic matter from a commercial point of view, 



because of the long time necessary to multiply a 



variety which starts as one tree. The commercial 



*Because, of course, the variability of seedlings is due to cross- 

 pollination through centuries. From this it results that soft date 

 seeds may even produce dry dates, or vice-versa. 



