448 [ THE DATE PALM. 



in the palm-groves fertilization is performed artificially 

 as an ordinary detail of cultivation. It is not possible to 

 distinguish between the sexes in young seedlings but 

 when the foliage has developed to its full size, and the 

 stem has commenced to form, the difference becomes 

 more marked, but it is never certain before the actual 

 appearance of the flower blades. The female tree usually 

 has longer leaves with longer and more regular leaflets 

 or segments, and the spines on the lower part of the 

 petiole or leaf stalk are generally dark brown at the tip, 

 and usually directed upwards making an acute angle 

 with the leaf-stalk and sometimes almost in touch with 

 it, instead of being divaricated at a right angle and 

 directed partly inwards and partly outwards as in the 

 male tree. The flower blades of the female are long 

 and slender, those of the male being more plump and 

 much shorter. 



.PROPAGATION. The date palm is propagated by 

 seed or by suckers which are thrown up around the base 

 of the stem during the first thirty years of the life of the 

 tree. Like most fruit trees, the date-palm sometimes 

 comes fairly true from seed, but it is liable to con- 

 siderable variations, in most cases the fruit of seedling 

 trees being quite useless. Besides, about half the number 

 of seedling trees will be males, which . of course are only 

 useful as fertilizers. The seeds or stones may be sown 

 in a pan or shallow pot in February or early in March, 

 and germination takes place in four to six weeks. The 

 young seedlings are planted out separately in small pots 

 in April of the following year, or in autumn. If allowed 

 to remain longer the roots will become so tangled 

 together that it will be impossible to separate them 

 without injury. The palms may be reared in pots shifting 

 them from one pot to a larger" one every year or two, but 

 they can be grown in the open ground whence they can 

 be transplanted in October or in April- May. Seedling 



