POLLINATING AND RIPENING DATES 323 



the leaves of the female tree near to the pistillate flowers. It was found 

 that the parts of the date cluster which are nearest to the suspended 

 male blooms have more perfect fruit than the more distant parts. Other 

 California date growers have had similar experience. 



In Winters the bearing date palms bloom in April and May, and the 

 fruit ripens in November. 



Ripening the Date. Dr. A. E. Vinson reports that the Arizona 

 Experiment Station has demonstrated that by pasteurization of the ripe 

 fruit, it is freed of the obnoxious insects that naturally infest the date. 

 The heat drives the small beetles from their shelter beneath the skins 

 and they drop to the bottom of the heater where they die. In pasteuriz- 

 ing, the temperature is raised sufficiently to destroy all insect eggs and 

 at the same time to improve the keeping quality of the fresh fruit by 

 checking fermentation. The date, heated after it has been ripened at 

 natural temperatures, becomes more palatable than the raw material 

 and does not cloy the appetite so quickly. These improvements alone 

 have greatly extended the possibilities of marketing the fresh fruit and 

 of its becoming a staple among the people of this country. 



Beauty of the Date Palm. The date palm in fruit is a beautiful 

 sight. The glauceous green pinnate leaves arch outward. Between 

 two of these emerge the bright orange-yellow polished fruit stalks, 

 which divide into a spray of slender bright yellow stems a foot or so in 

 length; and thickly set upon these in clusters are the various colored 

 fruits covered with a rich bloom. It is a sight not easily forgotten by 

 a lover of nature, and especially by one reared in a northern zone, the 

 characteristic vegetation of which is so different. 



