ON SOME ORNAMENTALS 



races of good fruit-bearers, has been practiced, 

 generation after generation. 



Moreover a certain amount of cross-pollenizing 

 between allied races of palms has doubtless taken 

 place without the agency of man, and so it is all 

 but certain that the different palms under cultiva- 

 tion bear mixed racial strains, somewhat as do the 

 different races of orchard fruits and cultivated 

 plants of temperate climates. 



It is quite to be expected, then, that the palms 

 grown from the seed should show a good deal of 

 variation. 



That such is really the case is made obvious to 

 anyone who attempts to raise them. The date 

 palm, for example, may readily enough be grown 

 from the seed, for the seeds germinate readily, 

 though slowly. But the tests have shown that the 

 progeny of a date palm bearing fruit of the best 

 quality cannot be depended upon to transmit the 

 characteristics of the parent with a high degree of 

 certainty. 



So it is necessary to grow the young trees from 

 suckers if the strain of the parent is to be perpetu- 

 ated accurately. 



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 excellent quality, 



[203] 



