PROPAGATION BY OFFSHOOTS. 21 



(PL VI, fig. 2) to Biskra, !>:> miles away, and from there to Algiers, 

 some 390 miles by rail, with no packing except a little palm fiber 

 about the bases. One box of these offshoots was packed in straw 

 with no moisture whatever except from having been wet twice, once 

 at Biskra and once at Algiers. So packed they were sent to New 

 York by steamer, arriving July 3, then transshipped to New Orleans 

 and finally carried by rail from New Orleans to Tempe, Ariz., where 

 they arrived July IT. They were unpacked July 20, two months after 

 they had been dug up. Prof. R. H. Forbes, under whose personal 

 supervision the palms were planted and cared for, reports that the 

 box of offshoots which had no packing other than the loose dry straw 

 came through as well as those packed in damp moss or in charcoal. 

 Some 80 per cent of these suckers lived. a 



It is very important that the offshoot be planted out high enough so 

 that the growing bud in the center is never in danger of being covered 

 with water when irrigated. (See fig. 6, p. 42.) 



In order to force the offshoots to take root and grow, the chief requi- 

 site is that the ground be kept constantly wet about their bases. If 

 the young plants dry out once they are lost, for the delicate new roots 

 that are just forming will be killed. The Arabs water the offshoots 

 every day for the first forty days after planting and then twice a 

 week until winter, after which they are watered as often as may be 

 necessary to keep the ground thoroughly moist. 



Another requisite almost as important as the keeping of the base of 

 the plant moist while roots are starting is that the ground be warm 

 when the offshoots are transplanted. It is useless to set out offshoots 

 in autumn or winter; the best season is late in spring or early in 

 summer, when the ground is thoroughly warm and when there is a 

 long hot season after planting, permitting the young palms to become 

 well established before winter. It is not necessary to shade the young 

 offshoots, but they should be protected against cold during the first 

 winter after being set out, by wrapping with burlap, heavy paper, or 

 straw. 



Professor Forbes finds (see p. 10) that young seedlings are often 

 killed by alkali where offshoots and old palms grow all right. Strong 

 alkali is probably injurious also to offshoots just striking root, 

 and the following method of preventing the rise of alkali, communi- 

 cated })y Professor Forbes, may be advantageously followed in all 

 cases where there is danger to be apprehended from this source: 

 Throw up a high border on each side of the rows, running in both 

 directions, thus creating a square inclosed space about each palm. 

 This space ma}^ be flooded from the irrigating canals with fresh water, 

 which carries away the salts accumulated near the surface down to 



Forbes, R. H. Twelfth Annual Report, Arizona Experiment Station, p. 317. 



