COMMERCIAL DATE GROWING 51 



a pure race of Deglet Nurs,* and a good start has 

 already been made, but it will require a number of 

 plant generations to fix the type, and it must not be 

 assumed that because a seed is nearly pure Deglet Nur 

 on both sides, it will be exempt from a tendency to 

 variation; neither can the undesirable preponderance 

 of males be eliminated. While planting pure-bred 

 seed will give far better results than planting ordi- 

 nary seed of mixed parentage, yet it will never take 

 the place of a-«exual propagation — in this case, by 

 offshoots — as the best way to multiply date palms. 



At present this is mere theory, for although the 

 purification of the one variety, Deglet Nur, has been 

 started, it is by no means finished. Nevertheless, 

 anyone who desires to plant seeds at the present time 

 should certainly take advantage of the work that has 

 already been done, providing he wants Deglet Nur 

 seed, by securing seed from the 'Bureau of Plant 

 Industry. 



Dr. L. Trabut, Algerian government botanist, 

 considers that Deglet Nur in some Tunisian oases has 

 been unknowingly inbred until the strain is much 

 purer than in Algeria, and likely to give better results 

 when planted from seed. The same is probably true 

 with regard to the Fardh dates of Oman, since their 

 culture is confined to a few oases where they largely 

 predominate, and it is therefore likely that males in 

 use will be seedling Fardhs, rather than seedlings of 

 some other variety. The results obtained in growing 

 Tafilalet dates from seed give reason to believe that 

 Majhul has been inbred there until it is purer than 



*Mason, Silas C. Date Growing in Southern California. Report 

 of Thirty-fourth Fruit Growers' Convention, p. 170. Sacramento, 

 State Printing Office, 1908. 



