108 DATE GROWING 



P. dactylifera. In California, Drummond has success- 

 fully pollinated the date palm with the California 

 fan palm, Washingtoniafilifera, and the Mediterranean 

 dwarf palm, Chamerops humilis,* both of which are 

 common. There is certainly a field for fascinating 

 and valuable experiment here. 



The palm usually flowers in March or April, 

 but it is not regular, and blossoms may be found from 

 February to June. It is, therefore, necessary to have 

 enough varieties of males to provide pollen at various 

 periods, unless one has males that bloom unusually 

 early, and preserves the pollen from these. 



In order to be safe, a grower should have three 

 or four males for each one hundred females. Never- 

 theless, a really good male will pollinate a much larger 

 number of palms than is indicated in those figures 

 frequently several hundred. Arabs point out males 

 which they say will pollinate one thousand palms; 

 and there is one at Indio, California, which might 

 almost match this record. There is just as much 

 difference in the value of males as there is of females, 

 and if one secures a really desirable specimen he 

 should use every exertion to propagate it as rapidly 

 as possible. 



Schweinfurth, in 1901, declared that the charac- 

 teristics of the male had an influence on the fruit 

 which resulted.! His statement was promptly 

 challenged, as the generally accepted idea was that 

 the influence of the male would not be seen in the 



*M. Denis of Hyeres did this a quarter of a century ago, and 

 Naudin named the hybrid Microphoenix decipiens. F. Sahut of 

 Montpellier crossed the date palm with Trachycarpus (Chamerops} 

 excelsus, in 1881, and Carriere named this hybrid M. sahuti. Ed. 

 Andre in Revue Horticole, p. 128. Paris, 1893. 



fSchweinfurth, Dr. George. Ueber die Kultur der Dattelpalme 

 in Gartenflora, vol. 50, p. 513. Berlin, 1901. 



