158 DATE GROWING 



destroy him and all other insects that infect the stored 

 fruit. 



It is greatly to be desired that every grower 

 should make it a point of honor not to put any dates 

 on the market that are wormy, or that have not been 

 treated in such a manner as to make it reasonably 

 certain that worms will not appear. Only by such 

 co-operation can the date industry of the United 

 States reach the position to which it is entitled. 



In conclusion, let me again call attention to the 

 fact that freedom from scale is one of the principal 

 merits of seedling palms. Each one starts in life 

 clean and sound, and with a little care they can be 

 kept so. The grower can then propagate any good 

 ones, and introduce the offshoots into any locality he 

 likes, without fear of hindrance from quarantine laws. 

 He cannot do this with imported offshoots until he 

 has held them for a year. It is a mistake to suppose, 

 however, that a tree is free from scale merely because 

 it is a seedling : infestation can easily take place. An 

 examination of a number of worthless seedlings, when 

 they are removed from the plantation, will give one a 

 fairly accurate idea as to whether he has scale or not. 

 If he has, he will be subject to quarantine laws, but 

 not to any other disabilities, for it has been proved that 

 there is no menace to the profits of the date industry, 

 in either of the scale insects, under present conditions. 



