ORNAMENTAL PALMS 241 



The experts of the Department of Pomology 

 at Washington and several private individuals 

 have imported rooted suckers, obtained from 

 female trees known to produce fruit of excel- 

 lent quality, distributing and planting them in 

 various regions of the southwestern United 

 States. 



The trees that grew from these suckers have 

 proved to be pistillate, as expected, and pro- 

 duced fruit equal to that of northern Africa. 

 Considerable difficulty was first experienced in 

 securing suckers from the best trees, even private 

 individuals not being allowed to own them in 

 the original country. As to the date palm, the 

 progress already made in the improvement of 

 the fruit indicates beyond the shadow of a doubt 

 that still further improvement will be made in 

 manj^ directions. It is probable that the colony 

 of fruit bearers thus introduced will spread 

 indefinitely, until the date palm becomes an 

 important economic tree in warmer portions of 

 America, as it has already done in parts of 

 California. 



It is even more important with the palm than 

 with other fruit-bearing trees that propagation 

 should be carried out in this way, because when 

 the plants are grown from the seed only half of 

 them will be bearers of pistillate flowers. 



