178 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



Best, and Hancock, in fifty-five and 

 one-half days ; Henderson's First of 

 All, Ferry's Extra Early, Ferry's First 

 and Best, Carter's First Crop, Daniel 

 O'Rourke, Early Alpha, and Sibley's 

 First and Best in fifty-six days ; Phila- 

 delphia Extra Early in fifty-six and 

 one-half days ; Kentish Invicta, Am- 

 erican Wonder, and Blue Peter, in 

 fifty -seven days ; Carter's Premium 

 Gem in fifty-nine days, and Extra Early 

 Kent in fifty-nine and one-half days. 



To illustrate the value of selection 

 in gathering peas for seed, we last sea- 

 son gathered a small quantity of the 

 first pods that ripened of the Tom 

 Thumb variety and a small quantity of 

 the latest ones. We planted 100 seeds 

 each from the earliest and latest pods, 

 on April 21 st and the same on May 

 1 2th. We note the difference in the 

 i-esults of the two selections of seed to 

 date, as follows : In vegetation of the 

 seeds there was, in the two plantings, 

 an average difference of 14|^ ])er cent, 

 in favor of the earliest matured seed ; 

 in the date of blooming an average dif- 

 ference of three and one-half days ap- 

 [)eared, and in the date of edible ma- 

 turity an average difference of five 

 days, all in favor of the first planting. 

 Perhaps of more importance is the 

 difference of productiveness of the two 

 selections of seed. Here we can only 

 consider the first planting. Ten plants i 

 from the earliest ripened seed have pro- i 

 duced, to date, sixty-eight pods, of | 

 which thirty-eight are well filled, while j 

 an equal number of ])]ants from the 

 latest ripened seed, have pro-luce I to 

 date, only forty-nine pods, of which 

 but thirteen can be called well-tilled. 



The Tom Thumb variety was select- 

 ed for this trial because the pods are 

 formed during a longer period than in 

 most other varieties. It is possible 

 that in varieties of which the pods 

 nearly all ripen at the same time the 

 difference in the results obtainable from 



the first and last ripened pods would 

 be less marked. This experiment serves, 

 however, to illustrate the importance 

 of selection in gathering peas for seed, 

 and shows that the inherent quality of 

 the seed used may have as much bear- 

 ing on the resulting crop as the condi- 

 tion of the soil, or the methods of cul- 

 tivation employed. 



E. Lewis Sturtevant, Director. 



DATES. 



The date is the fruit of the Phoenix 

 dactylifera. The palm date has a naked 

 and cylindrical stem; it grows in Asia 

 and in certain provinces in Africa, and 

 is abundantly used by the natives. 



The flowers of the date are inclosed 

 in a long spathe and change into an 

 oblong fleshy fruit, yellow in color, of 

 which the thick skin is readily preserved 

 by drying. It incloses a cylindrical, 

 deeply furrowed nut, hard and corneous, 

 which contains an oily and sugary sub- 

 stance. Each date tree carries a vari- 

 able number of clusters, and these in 

 maturity attain a length of about a 

 meter, and a weight of ten or twelve 

 kilogrammes. When the fruit is to be 

 preserved, it is gathered before reaching 

 maturity and dried in the sun. There 

 are more than thirty varieties of dates, 

 among which the male date, dakkar, or 

 7n,enakker, is pre-eminent. All these 

 varieties have the same botanical char- 

 acters, their trunks resemble the under- 

 ground stems of ferns, their leaves £.re 

 pintiate and luxuriant. 



The palms and their congeners belong 

 to the warm regions of the earth ; they 

 are found in India, Persia, etc. In 

 Europe their sole representatives are 

 the Chanicerops humilis, and the culti- 

 vated date palm, whose fi-uit does not 

 ripen naturally. The date is common 

 in Spain, where it is cultivated upon a 

 great scale for its fruit. 



