CHAPTER VIII 



MALE PALMS 



If it is accepted that the characteristics of the 

 male exert a direct influence on the fruit produced, it 

 becomes of prime necessity to select the male parent 

 with as much care as the female. This is a field in 

 which most of the experimentation remains to be 

 done, and each grower will have to work the problem 

 out for himself, trying the pollen of different males on 

 the same palm, preferably by pollinating each cluster 

 on the female from a different male. If the clusters 

 are then tagged to show what pollen was used, a good 

 idea can be had in one year as to the most desirable 

 mate for that particular variety, and the grower can 

 then propagate enough of that strain of males to 

 ensure as much pollen as he needs. With a plantation 

 of average size, and a good supply of males with which 

 to experiment, only a year or two will be needed to 

 find the right combinations in each case and the 

 grower can then go ahead with confidence. If he does 

 not possess enough males, there is danger that he may 

 continue for some years without getting the best or 

 earliest crop possible. 



It is therefore desirable that he should keep as 

 many of his seedling males as will not interfere with 

 his other work, and this can best be done, as already 

 explained, by planting a windbreak or hedge of 

 seedlings and letting all the males remain in it. 



But the tests in California, although not yet 

 extensive enough to be conclusive, indicate that the 

 merits of seedling males are, in general, not great, 



