PROPAGATION BY SEEDS. 67 



28. The land on which the seedlings are to be reared 



should not contain alkali to an extent that 

 Rea seediinas date w ^ narm ordinary farm crops. The seed bed 



should be prepared in March or April as for an 

 ordinary crop. The seeds should be planted in it to a depth of 

 1 to 2 inches and 3 to 4 feet apart, in rows 3 to 4 feet between the 

 rows, and then irrigated. The bed should be watered once per 

 week till the seedlings show above ground and should then be 

 watered as frequently as to keep the ground moist enough to grow 

 any ordinary garden crop. The seedlings are extremely hardy 

 and I have seen them germinate and come to a foot or more in 

 height in deserts where nothing else was growing. If they are 

 well treated, they will grow faster and come into flower sooner- 

 They repay good treatment well, as only when they come into 

 flower and fruit can the fruitless males and worthless females 

 be weeded out. The weeding out should be done with all possible 

 speed to prevent the worthless trees choking the others up and so 

 retarding their growth. Transplanting may be done as in the case 

 of off-shoots (see pages 10, 68 and 73, paras. 5, 31, 38 et seq.). 



29. The rearing of date trees from seeds is not advisable 



for ordinary date cultivators when good off- 

 Advantages of shoots can be obtained. No useless trees have to 



planting by ott- 



shoots. be cultivated if the off-shoot method is adopted, 



as all off-shoots from female trees will become 

 female trees and will yield fruits of the same quality as the 

 mother tree would in the same conditions. Consequently by 

 planting off-shoots of the same variety, it is possible to obtain 

 a plantation of trees, all yielding fruits of the same sort. Where 

 the date trees are reared from seeds, no individual tree bears 

 fruits, the inherent qualities of which are like those borne by any 

 other tree, and therefore the cultivator cannot supply a large 

 quantity of fruits of the same grade to buyers. This is a very 

 important disadvantage for trading purposes. Although new 

 and improved varieties of dates may be produced by careful 

 breeding and propagation from seeds, it will usually take many 

 years to evolve an improved variety, and many more years to 



