PROPAGATION BY SEEDS. 89 



which would make it advantageous to prune the plants fairly 

 severely and then protect them artificially. 



Mr. Gaskin, Assistant for Commerce and Trade, Baghdad, 

 informs me that the Arabs there prune the old leaves from the 

 palms three times a year, viz. : (a] at the time of pollination, 



(b) when the fruit is well formed but has not turned yellow, and 



(c) when the bunches of fruits are finally cut down. At the time of 

 (a) the growers have 'to climb the trees to " hand-pollinate " the 

 flowers ; at (b) they are probably thinning out the fruit bunches 

 and unfertilised fruits ; at (c) they are harvesting. Having 

 climbed the trees at these times the people naturally cut away 

 any leaves which have passed their most useful stage of life 'or 

 are in the way of the worker (see illustration No. 29, page 86a.) 



Usually where the date is cultivated, however, the main 

 pruning is done in spring. When growth commences, the leaves 

 which are withering and hanging limply are cut away and the 

 bases of the trees are cleared of all rubbish and superfluous 

 off-shoots. Four to six off-shoots are usually left on each young 

 tree to provide young plants for planting elsewhere. Young 

 off-shoots while attached to the parent tree obtain water and food 

 materials from the parent, and later when they have developed 

 roots for themselves, these roots take up water and food materials 

 from the soil which would otherwise have been available for the 

 parent tree ; therefore the crop of fruits is diminished if too large 

 a number of off-shoots are allowed to remain attached to a tree. 



55. Young date palms grown from seeds which have 



dropped around the trees, and all other useless 



Effect of seedling 



dates and weeds on plants growing around the bases of the trees 



a plantation. -I-ITI -i i T i 



should be removed, as they also take up w r ater 

 and food materials from the soil, which would otherwise have 

 been available to the date trees. 



56. Date trees usually produce off-shoots fit for planting 

 Ages between between the ages of 5 and 20 years (see illus- 



which trees produce . 7 i 



off-shoots (suckers) tration No. 38, page 1126, and illustration No. 30, 



and number of suck- . p f , 



era borne. page 88$). Alter 20 years ot age lew or no 



