322 CALIFORNIA FRUITS: HOW TO GROW THEM 



These seedlings should be set out in rows about 30 feet apart and placed 5 or 

 6 feet apart in the row. Ordinarily field crops can be grown between the rows 

 until long after the palms come into bearing. After three or four years, when 

 the young palms begin to flower, the male trees can be dug up and destroyed, thus 

 thinning out about half of the trees Then when the female trees come into fruit, 

 those which yield decidedly inferior fruit can also be removed, so that finally 

 about one-fourth of the original number of seedlings will be left standing. The 

 spaces between the seedlings will be irregular and offshoots can be taken from 

 the best sorts and planted where the largest gaps occur. By preventing offshoots 

 from growing on the poorer sorts they will yield more fruit and finally can be 

 destroyed and replaced by offshoots from some of the better sorts. In this way, 

 by degrees, the orchard can be improved without expense for offshoots aside 

 from the labor of planting them. 



Rooting Suckers. Suckers taken off in warm weather and 

 watered freely usually take root readily. Care should be taken not to 

 let the plants dry. Director Forbes gives these points : Suckers should 

 not be taken from the parent tree until they have attained a diameter 

 of 5 to 6 inches and a weight of 15 to 20 pounds. Suckers should be 

 removed by cutting in and down along the line of cleavage between 

 them and the main trunk, with a strong chisel or a flat-pointed bar. If 

 possible the cut should be carried down so as to bring away at least 

 one or two sound roots. The leaves should be closely pruned and for 

 shipment the cut bases had better be protected against drying out by 

 layer of wet moss or similar material. In planting, the sucker should 

 be set in previously irrigated and well settled soil to the depth of its 

 greatest diameter, taking care that the center of the palm is not below 

 the irrigating water level. 



For convenience in irrigating, a shallow basin of earth should be 

 made about the sucker, in which, to lessen evaporation and the rise of 

 alkali, a mulch of fine barnyard litter three or four inches deep should 

 be spread. The soil about the newly transplanted suckers should be 

 kept constantly wet by frequent irrigations. Suckers should be cut and 

 transplanted April to August, inclusive, but not during or approaching 

 cool weather. 



Bearing Age of the Date. There is much difference in the ages 

 at which the seedlings have come in fruit in the hands of different 

 growers. Fruit has been reported on seedlings six years old and even 

 on plants four years from the seed. Such early maturity must not, how- 

 ever, be generally expected. 



Blooming of the Date. The date palm is dioecious, and, its 

 staminate (male) and pistillate (female) blooms appearing on different 

 trees, it requires the association of the two for perfect fruiting. Grow- 

 ing plants from seed, as already stated, leaves the grower in doubt as 

 to the sex of his plants until they bloom. Usually one obtains a large 

 preponderance of male plants. In propagating from suckers the new 

 tree is of the same sex as the parent. It is advised to have about one 

 male to twenty female trees. The pollen can be transported long dis- 

 tances and maintains its vitality for a long time. 



Artificial fertilization of the bloom of the bearing palm has been 

 found of advantage in this State and was probably first practiced by 

 J. R. Wolfskill. Though the staminate tree was but a few feet away 

 from the pistillate, the male bloom was broken in pieces and hung to 



