308 



is considerably reduced, and the staminate trees are cut off and a 

 small proportion only allowed to grow, viz., about one in fifty. With 

 the help of artificial pollination this number may even be reduced. 

 For that purpose a piece of the male flower is tied to the female 

 inflorescence of the pistillate tree at blossoming time. The repro- 

 duction of the date palm by seeds is not much favoured, and often 

 results in worthless trees ; and it is preferable to effect the 

 multiplication of the good varieties by means of suckers. These 

 transmit the sexes and the characteristics of the parent plants. 



Failure in connection with the profitable cultivation of the date 

 palm is often due to the fact that some imagine that the tree is one 

 fitted for any hot, arid desert. Its likings have, however, been 

 fittingly summed up by an Arab proverb : " The date palm, the 

 queen of trees, must have her feet in running water and her head 

 in the burning sky." 



It is a fact worth noting that a very dry atmosphere favours 

 the production of dates of high quality, and that the best dates are 

 grown in the hottest regions of Sahara, and remote from the cooling 

 and humid neighbourhood of the sea. In fact, heavy rain, followed 

 up by a few days of cloudy weather at the period of the ripening of 

 the fruit, at times spoil the date crop. 



Permanency of moisture is needed more than any great volume 

 of water at any time. When this is available, even if the water is 

 alkaline, the hot winds of the desert do not injure it, and it will 

 thrive in a climate too hot for any other known fruit. 



Suckers of good strengths and weighing 201bs. to 301bs. are 

 preferable, if sent a long journey. Large shipments have of late 

 years been sent from Northern Sahara by Mr. W. T. Swingle, 

 'Agricultural Explorer to the Department of Agriculture, Washing- 

 ton, from Biskra and the oasis around, a distance of 400 miles to 

 the south of Algiers, to Arizona and California. These consign- 

 ments consisted of suckers removed from the parent palms by means 

 of a sharp chisel and a mallet. They were simply packed in the 

 date palm fibre and wrapped in bags and slung on pack camels to the 

 nearest railway line, whence they were carried to Algiers, dipped in 

 water, and packed in wooden boxes, after having been wrapped in 

 moist moss or sphagmum, and shipped as ordinary cargo. This 

 method of packing proved vastly cheaper than the shipment in tubs 

 which had been followed by the French and British Governments 

 in shipping Algerian palms to South Australia. The suckers were 

 at times a long time growing, and some, after planting, remained for 

 12 months dormant ; but 93 per cent, eventually grew. Date 

 palm trees raised from seeds are six to eight years before they bear, 

 whereas from suckers they begin to fruit when five or six years old, 

 and come into full bearing when 10 or 12 years old, and continue 

 bearing from this stage, if well cared for, until they are 100 years 

 or more old. The average quantity of fruit borne annually amounts 

 to lOOlbs. to 2001bs. ; some trees yielding as much as 401bs. or 

 more. 



