PART FIVE: SEMITROPICAL FRUITS. 
CHAPTER XVII, 
THE DATE. 
The date palm (phoenix dactylifera) was brought to Cali- 
fornia by the padres, and the oldest date trees in the State are 
the survivors of their early plantings. These trees are found at 
the San Diego Mission, as shown in the engraving. hey are 
conjectured to be a century old, and they have survived drouth 
and neglect, making unsuccessful eftort at fruiting, for, accord- 
ing to common report, the fruit does not ripen, but whether 
owing to the unfavorable conditions indicated, or to lack of 
fertilization of the bloom, is not known. There are trees at 
Ventura, on the site of the garden of the old mission of San 
Buena Ventura, about forty feet in height and ten feet in cir- 
cumference at the base, with long, graceful, tern-like leaves, 
which put forth about thirty feet from the ground. 
The ill success of these old trees in the direction of fruit 
bearing probably long prevented further attention to the date as 
a profitable growth. Still there were date palms grown from 
seed of the commercial date planted here and there for orna- 
ment or out of curiosity, and in due course of time the fruit 
appeared. The first public exhibition of California dates known 
to the writer was made at the Mechanics’ Institute Fair, in San 
Francisco, in September, 1877. The fruit was grown on the 
scuth bank of Putah Creek, the northern boundary of Solano 
County, the situation being slightly above the level of the plain 
of the Sacramento Valley, which lies east of it. The plants 
were grown by the late J. R. Wolfskill, from seed of commercial 
dates purchased in San Francisco, and planted in 1858 or 1859. 
The seed germinated readily, and the young plants were set out 
in a row about one hundred feet south of Putah Creek, on a 
rich, fine, sandy loam, lying about twenty-five feet above the 
bed of the creek. The plants received good cultivation but no 
irrigation. This treatment was continued after the property 
passed into the hands of the late S. C. Wolfskill, the plants being 
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