62 DATE GROWING 



it is pretty certain to ferment when it is placed in the 

 ground. 



As soon as taken from the tree, the base of the 

 offshoot should be trimmed up with a chisel, so that 

 the cut surface will be clean and smooth, and when dry 

 it should be painted over with white lead (thinned 

 with linseed oil) or asphaltum roofing paint, or better 

 still, a mixture made as follows : 



Take two pounds of linseed oil and two of suet; 

 boil them together and stir in three-quarters of a pound 

 of red oxide of lead. 



In another vessel boil two pounds of rosin, pow- 

 dered, and an equal quantity of ordinary carbonate of 

 soda. When these have been mixed, pour the compound 

 into the first vessel, containing the fatty mixture, and 

 stir them thoroughly. A very Large pot should be used, 

 as the compound boils up rapidly. 



Put the mixture aside to cool; if it is thicker than 

 is desired a little denatured alcohol can be stirred into 

 it. If it is too thick when wanted for use, because of 

 cold weather, warm it slightly. 



Being of an oily or fatty nature, it is absolutely 

 waterproof, while the rosin makes it dry very rapidly 

 without soaking into the fibres of the tree. 



Dead leaf stalks, long roots and loose fibre should 

 be cleaned off, and the leaves trimmed back to a 

 length of a foot or less, and their cut ends painted 

 over to prevent excessive radiation of moisture when 

 planted; the shoot is then ready to go into the ground; 

 but if it is to be shipped some further precautions are 

 necessary. In the first place, the leaf stalks should be 

 firmly wired together, to prevent any possible damage 

 to the terminal bud. The wire is, of course, removed 

 when they are planted. Then the base of the offshoot 

 should be dipped in puddled mud and surrounded by 

 sphagnum moss or the fibre of the palm itself. The 

 whole base of the offshoot is then sewn in a burlap 

 jacket, and it is soaked thoroughly. Offshoots are 



