208 MANUAL OF TROPICAL AND SUBTROPICAL FRUITS 



Four or five days before the offshoots are to be removed 

 from the mother-palm, their inner leaves should be cut back 

 one-half and the outer leaves two-thirds of their length. It 

 will be well worth while to have a special chisel made for re- 

 moving offshoots. It should have a cutting bit of the best tool 

 steel, 5 inches wide by 7 inches long, one side flat, the reverse 

 beveled for 2 inches on the sides as well as on the cutting edge. 

 The chisel should have a handle of soft iron 3 feet long and 1^ 

 inches in diameter, such as can be hammered with a sledge- 

 hammer. The delicate operation of cutting is described by 

 Bruce Drummond, who is the best American authority on the 

 culture of the palm, as follows : 



"To cut the offshoots from the tree the flat side of the chisel should 

 always be facing the offshoot to be cut. Set the chisel well to the side 

 of the base of the offshoot close to the main trunk. Drive it in with a 

 sledge until below the point of union with the parent trunk ; then by 

 manipulating the handle the chisel is easily loosened and cuts its way 

 out. Next reverse and cut from the opposite side of the shoot until 

 the two cuts come together. This operation will in most cases sever 

 the offshoot from the trunk. No attempt to pry the offshoot from the 

 tree should be made, as the tissues are so brittle that the terminal bud 

 may be ruined by checking or cracking. In cutting offshoots directly 

 at the base of the palm the soil should be dug away until the base of the 

 offshoot is located and enough exposed to show the point of union with 

 the mother plant. Then the chisel can be set without danger of cutting 

 the roots of the parent tree so much as to injure or retard its growth. 

 The connection of the offshoot on such varieties as Deglet Nur is very 

 small, and there is no necessity of cutting deeply into the trunk to sever 

 the offshoot from the tree." 



Once separated from its parent, the moist offshoot requires 

 a period of seasoning before it is dry enough to be planted 

 without danger of fermentation. Offshoots from the base of a 

 palm are usually softer and sappier than those growing some 

 distance above ground. The evaporation should amount to 

 12 or 15 per cent of the total weight, which will require at least 

 ten to fifteen days to effect. Offshoots are usually left where 

 cut, on the ground beneath the palm, to season. 





