POLLINATION 109 



immediate resulting seed, but only when that seed 

 was planted and in turn produced fruit. But the 

 important experiments of Bruce Drummond, assistant 

 arboriculturist of the Bureau of Plant Industry, in 

 California, during recent years seem to confirm 

 Schweinfurth's statement, and to show that the quali- 

 ties of the male which is used for pollination have a 

 decided influence on the fruit which results. Not 

 only does the variety Ghars seem to produce better 

 fruit when pollinated with Phoenix canariensis than 

 when P. dactylifera is the parent, but a variety of 

 males has been tried on different palms, and markedly 

 different results observed. A difference of as much as 

 one-third in the size, and of twenty days in the time 

 of ripening, seems to have been due to a change in the 

 male used for pollinating. In most Arab communities 

 this fact seems to have been overlooked, and the value 

 of a male is judged solely by the amount of pollen it 

 produces; but the more intelligent growers of Baghdad 

 and Oman confirm Schweinfurth and Drummond, 

 declaring that the male used has a direct influence on 

 the quality and quantity of fruit produced. 



While more evidence is needed to establish the 

 proposition beyond dispute, it is of such importance 

 that no one can afford to select his males haphazard. 

 Unfortunately, the only way to know the quality of a 

 male is to find out by experiment, and this requires 

 some time; but it will be advisable to secure offshoots 

 of males of known performance, and to depend on 

 chance seedling males as little as possible. 



The flowers of the female palm usually open 

 before the spathe does, so that polUnation can be 

 successfully performed even when the spathe is pre- 

 maturely opened by a knife in the hands of the planter. 



