PROPAGATION BY OFFSHOOTS 71 



are so marked that they can be distinguished at a 

 glance by anyone. The color and texture of the 

 leaflets and the angle at which they are set on the 

 midrib; the length, thickness, number and arrange- 

 ment of the spines; the color of the midrib; and the 

 amount and arrangement of the fibre among the 

 stems, are the principal guides, and these points should 

 all be noticed by one who wishes to fix the identity 

 of an offshoot.* There is no reason why the ordi- 

 nary grower should not learn the characteristics of 

 the offshoots of all his palms, unless he has an 

 unusually large number of varieties on his plantation, 

 and he will thus be enabled, in handling offshoots, to 

 avoid any confusion: although it is also desirable to 

 fix a permanent metal label to them as they are cut 

 from the parent tree. 



One who buys offshoots among the Arabs 

 follows the same method, but if the offshoots are new 

 to him he must at first depend on Arabs for the 

 identification. The safest way, of course, is to see the 

 trees in fruit, and determine the characteristics of the 

 offshoot (and the palm itself as well) at that time. 

 But in practice he is not likely to be deceived, if he 

 conscientiously attends to his work, for he can usually 

 tell a strange offshoot in a bunch which is supposed to 

 consist of one variety, even though he may not be 

 able to give the name of the stranger — a Tafazwin, 

 for instance, in a row of Deglet Nur offshoots, sticks 

 out like a sore thumb. 



If the buyer of offshoots in an Arab country 

 employs as his field agent an Arab recommended to 

 him by some responsible European, if he conscien- 



*Prof. S. C. Mason of the Bureau of Plant Industry has worked 

 out a complete system for identifying adult palms in this way. 



