HOW TO GROW DATES 379 



and it produces the finest and best-flavored dates, nourished by 

 water too alkaline for man and beast to drink. These observa- 

 tions warrant the trials of the tree which are now being made in 

 situations not adapted to other fruits. 



PROPAGATION OF THE DATE 



The date palm grows readily from the seeds of the dried date 

 of commerce, and, as has been intimated, the trees now fruiting 

 in this State have been obtained in this way. By the use of 

 seed one gets, however, only seedlings, and the chance of thus 

 securing a really fine variety is probably not greater than with 

 other fruit-tree seedlings. In date-growing countries the best 

 varieties are propagated by rooting the off-sets, sprouts, or suck- 

 ers which appear at the base of the old palms. To secure the best 

 foreign varieties such plants must be imported. The first suc- 

 cessful enterprise of this kind was accomplished in the summer 

 of 1890 by the United States Department of Agriculture, under 

 the direction of H. E. Van Deman, then chief of the Division of 

 Pomology. The plants were divided between New Mexico, Ari- 

 zona and California. The plants for California were sent to the 

 Department of Agriculture of the* University of California, and 

 were planted at the experiment stations at Tulare and at Pomona, 

 some of them being subsequently transplanted to the United 

 States Date Garden at Mecca in the Colorado desert region* 

 Upon fruiting a number of these plants, they seemed to be only 

 seedlings and not the best foreign varieties, as represented. 



A full account of this effort and its outcome is given in Bulle- 

 tin 29, of the Arizona Experiment Station. 



The United States Department of Agriculture undertook 

 arrangements in 1899 for new importations, which were success- 

 fully made, but all that was anticipated in securing valuable vari- 

 eties was not attained. Director R. H. Forbes, of the Arizona 

 Experiment Station, writes in Timely Hints No. 72 (April, 1908) : 



"Several of the Old World varieties which have thus far fruited 

 have failed to make good for various, reasons. Some have required 

 a longer growing season to mature ; others have soured in damp 

 or cool weather, and still others do not appeal to the American 

 consumer. A few varieties have proved acceptable in all respects, 

 and to such as these we must look for future commercial develop- 

 ments." 



Of the foreign varieties thus introduced the following have 

 been produced in small commercial quantities : Rhars, Tedalla, 

 Birket el Haggi and Deglet Noor. 



Growing Palms from Seed. Seeds taken from the dried dates 

 of commerce germinate readily; in fact, seedlings frequently 



