450 



and as they take about two years to establish themselves 

 properly they should be well watered also throughout 

 the hot season in the following year. 



In all the oases of Northern Africa, as well as in 

 Arabia, in the region of the Persian Gulf and in India, 

 the date palm as a fruit tree is propagated exclusively 

 by suckers, this being the only way by which a cultivated 

 variety can be propagated always true to type, and is 

 therefore the safest and most reliable method of propa- 

 gation although it is necessarily slow and often expen- 

 sive. In the first fifteen to thirty years of its life the 

 date palm throws up a considerable number of suckers, 

 generally below the surface of the ground or just upon 

 it, but rarely more than a few decimetres high up on 

 the stem. The suckers are cleaned of their primordial 

 irregular foliage, and encouraged to grow and to form 

 roots by watering frequently, with an occasional mulch 

 of manure, and if they are formed above the ground 

 they should be earthed up to favour the emission of roots. 

 They are allowed to remain with the mother plant until 

 their base has reached the thickness of about 20 c.m. 

 and has become well provided with roots. The sucker 

 is best removed from the tree in April or May ; a furrow 

 deep enough to uncover the roots is made around it, 

 and the sucker is pulled out towards the ground by an 

 assistant, while the gardener separates it from the base 

 of the mother plant by a few well directed blows with a 

 pickaxe, or by inserting a long and strong knife as 

 neatly as possible between the stem of the mother- 

 plant and the base of the sucker. This is then taken up 

 without exercising any undue traction on the roots, but 

 these may be cut off neatly or trimmed back with a 

 pruning knife. Traction on the roots may cause them to 

 break off from their sockets in the base of the sucker 

 leaving so many pits which are difficult to heal and are 

 a source of weakness and often of failure. The outer 



