CHAPTER I. 



THE DATE PALM. (Phoenix dactylifera.) 



General requirements of the date palm ; a few notes on its adaptations 

 to its habitat, and the differences between the sexes. 



I. The natural home of the date palm is close to a well 

 or spring or other water-supply, in a dry 

 parched desert with scorching summer heat. 

 Such places are often quite cold in winter, but the 

 palms there seem well able to withstand the cold. The fruits 

 mature in summer or autumn, and will not ripen properly unless 

 under excessive heat. Without an unstinted water-supply readily 

 available to the roots, the fruits do not develop properly, 

 while a moist atmosphere adversely affects both pollination 

 (see page 45, para. 22), and the proper maturing of the fruit 

 (see page 52, para. 24). For the most successful cultivation of 

 dates, an extremely dry atmosphere, a very high temperature, 

 and a plentiful supply of water are, therefore, essential during 

 the flowering and fruiting period. The Arabic saying " the 

 date palm likes its feet in water and its head in fire " is 

 roughly expressive of the requirements of the plant. 



2. Like other plants of its class, the date palm possesses 

 no large tap root, but has what is known 



The root. 



as a fibrous root-system, i.e., it has a large 

 number of secondary roots more or less equal in thickness, 

 arising in a dense cluster from the base of the stem (see 

 illustration No. 1, page XIX). In this case the secondary roots 

 are usually about J to f inch in diameter. These roots give 

 off a number of smaller lateral roots, and, after decreasing to 

 a diameter of about J inch or rather less, end abruptly. 



In transverse sections of the secondary roots (see illustration 

 No. 2, page XX) outside the relatively well-marked central 

 M, DP i 



