422 Pomona College Journal of Economic Botany 



quency of the irrigations may be gradually diminished as the young shoots 

 establish themselves in their new home; but the plants should never be 

 allowed to approach a state of dryness. During the first few weeks that the 

 roots are starting, it is considered fatal to the life of the palm to disturb 

 its position in the least, an idea that has grown to be almost a superstition 

 with some who claim that the slightest jar to the plant during this period 

 will injure the new roots and kill the palm. T 'udoubtedly the rooting process 

 is slow and laborious, it being a not uncommon thing for an off-shoot to lie 

 dormant for a whole year before evidencing any signs of life, though most of 

 the shoots will be well rooted at the end of eight or nine months. The per- 

 centage which' lives varies witli the variety of the date, with the condition of 

 the plants upon their arrival, and with the treatment which they receive in 

 the nursery; but the rooting has been generally successful. 



Although the commercial date must be propagated from off -shoots, as 

 previously stated, it sometimes becomes desirable to grow seedlings for a 

 windbreak, or from which to experiment on new varieties. It is because 

 of the tendency of the date to sport that new fruits can be obtained from 

 seedlings, very few of which may be far superior to their parent kind. 

 Although it is generally a slow and unsatisfactory method of establishing 

 an orchard, to plant seedlings and go through the long and expensive process 

 of selection and elimination, if one is so fortunate as to draw a prize plant 

 out of a possible hundred or thousand seedlings, he may be well repaid for 

 his pains; for all new varieties must originate from seedlings. This choice 

 seedling can be encouraged to produce off-shoots and by their propagation, 

 one could in time establish this new variety to the ultimate good of the date 

 industry. 



And so it is that a word on the growing of the seedling may not be 

 amiss. It is generally thought that while the date does not come true to 

 seed, there is, nevertheless, a slight tendency of the offspring to resemble 

 somewhat its parent type; so that, in planting seeds, it seems wise to select 

 them from choice fruits. These are generally soaked in warm water for 

 about a week before being planted, to hasten their germination. They may 

 then be planted in seed flats or in the open ground according to the con- 

 venience at the time. However, planting in boxes makes easier the subse- 

 quent handling. In any event, soil should not be used, that contains 

 sufficient alkali to injure an ordinary field crop. The seeds should be covered 

 to a depth of one or two inches at a distance of three or four inches apart, 

 after which it is largely a matter of keeping them watered. When a few 

 inches high, they are set out in rows where they can be cared for till old 

 enough to show their sex, if they are desired for selective purposes, and 

 should be given enough room not to crowd for at least four years, when the 

 sex of most of the plants will have been determined. 



When off-shoots have become well rooted, or when these seedlings have 

 thus been sorted, they are ready for orchard form, where about fifty palms 



