Pomona College Journal of Economic Botany 419 



mercial varieties unless there were some way in which a variety could be per- 

 petuated. This way is evidently not from growing seedlings. 



Palm olf-shoots are small suckers which grow from the sides and around 

 the bases of the larger palms; and it is from these off-shoots that all standard 

 varieties of commercial dates are grown, since they will root and grow into 

 palms that bear fruit identical with that of the parent plants. The Arabs 

 have known this fact for generations and have thus established many distinct 

 varieties that can be found in abundance in the old date growing regions 



Plate 173. This illustrates the way in which the off-shoots are unloaded at the nursery, 

 after being dipped and hauled from the station. They sometimes lie for 

 two days before being planted. 



around the Persian Gulf and the Algerian deserts. They think of growing 

 date palms in no other way and will carry off-shoots of a choice variety 

 on camel back, for a journey of days, to plant them in their own gardens. 

 And, thus, the problem of establishing and maintaining standard commercial 

 varieties has been solved most satisfactorily. 



As the date palm is not indigenous to America, the question of intro- 

 ducing and establishing it here, presented a rather difficult problem, since it 

 was necessary to import these off-shoots from half way around the globe. 

 The United States Department of Agriculture was the first to bring in 



