20 THE DATE PALM. 



dates pollinated from a number of trees in the hope that some of these 

 males would produce seedlings of a superior type. If possible males 

 known to be seedlings of the Deglet Noor or of some other superior 

 sort should be employed in such pollination. It is wortlry of note 

 that the male dates in California, and especially those in the Salt River 

 Valley, Arizona, are for the most part the offspring of fairly good soft 

 dates, probably from the Persian Gulf region, purchased in the markets. 

 So Arizona and California dates would be well worth planting, since 

 both parents of the seeds in such dates are the offspring of soft dates, 

 whereas in most regions where the date palm is grown the males are 

 likely to be the product of dry dates (for most of the dates in those 

 countries are of the dry type) dropped by chance in a wet spot where 

 they could grow. 



The seedlings of a single sort of date may present the most remark- 

 able variations, and usually the parent type is not exactly reproduced 

 by any of the offspring. This is clearly shown by the experiments of 

 Col. Sam Taylor, of Winters, Cal., who tried to propagate from seed 

 the valuable early ripening Wolf skill date growing on his place. This 

 was done because this palm had ceased to produce offshoots before its 

 value was recognized. Many of these seedling dates have fruited, but 

 none resembles in the slightest degree the parent variety; most of them 

 are much later and consequently fail to mature at Winters, where the 

 summer heat is insufficient to ripen any but the earliest sorts. 



PROPAGATION OF THE DATE PALM BY OFFSHOOTS. 



In all regions where its culture is an important industry the date 

 palm is almost invariably propagated by removing and planting the 

 offshoots or suckers which spring up around the base of the trunk (PL 

 XVII, fig. 2, and Yearbook, 1900, PL LIX, fig. 4). These offshoots 

 reproduce the parent variety exactly and have the great advantage of 

 coming into bearing sooner than seedlings. Offshoots are produced 

 abundantly by young date palms, but cease to form when the trees 

 reach the age of 10 to 15 years. Usually three or four are left 

 attached to the parent plant, any in excess of this number being cut 

 away as fast as the} 7 form. One offshoot can be removed every year 

 until they cease to be produced. They are cut away from the parent 

 trunk when the} 7 are from 3 to 6 years old, after they have begun to 

 develop roots, if as usual they start from below the surface of the 

 ground and have their bases covered with earth. The leaves are all 

 cut away, leaving only the bud in the center protected by the leaf- 

 stalks (PL VI, fig. 3). No roots are left attached to the offshoot, 

 which, when so reduced to a mere stump, can stand much exposure. 

 Some offshoots procured by the writer on May 18 and 19, 1900, at 

 Ourlana, Algeria, in the Sahara Desert, were shipped by camel-back 



