78 THE DATE PALM. 



the trees in which had about that interval, but in the best planta- 

 tions that I have seen, the trees have been 17 to 20 feet apart. 



Paul B. Popenoe in his book " Date Growing in the Old 

 and New Worlds " gives opposite page 297 a photograph of a 

 plantation of " Fardh Palms in the Samail Valley, Arabia " under 

 which he writes : " The natives of this region are the most skilful 

 Arab cultivators of the Date " and " the trees are planted 

 20 feet apart and a subsidiary crop is grown." 



The observations referred to on page 1, para. 2 of this note, 

 show that a very large proportion of the roots of the date palm 

 descend at a sharp angle and never spread beyond a radius of 

 a few feet from the tree trunk. As far as the root system is 

 concerned, therefore, the data from these observations would 

 explain why considerable crops of fruits are got even when the 

 trees are planted very close together. They show, however, 

 that there would be a good deal of overlapping of the roots when 

 the plants are planted 10 to 15 feet apart and indicate that the 

 trees would probably bear more heavily if planted at distances 

 apart up to about 20 feet. When the trees are growing 19 or 20 

 feet apart, the relative positions of the trees are as advised 

 below, and the leaves are fairly developed, there is also neither 

 overcrowding, nor much vacant space left between the tree 

 tops (see para. 4, page 7). 



If each tree is allowed a circular space having a diameter 

 of about 19 feet, good results should therefore be got. To get 

 most trees into a given area of ground the trees should be set 

 out in lines, and the trees in adjacent lines should not be opposite, 

 but should alternate with each other as in illustration No. 24 

 opposite. Also the proportional distances apart of the rows 

 and the'trees in the rows should be 



( ia ) 2 + b 2 = a 2 



When a = the distance apart of the trees in the rows, and 

 b = the distance between the rows. 



With a = 19 feet, b will be about 16'4 feet, and 139 trees 

 approximately will be planted per acre. 



