174 



THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS ' CONVENTION. 



ing- in a soil with a low per cent of alkali and not liable to staomation. 

 Dr. Swingle has shown in Bulletin Xo. 53. formerly referred to. that 

 date trees do not thrive if the soil at all depths contains more than O.f) 

 per cent of alkali. He also shows that water of a per cent of saltiness 

 or alkalinity that would be fatal to ordinary crops may be used in the 

 irrigation of the date tree provided good drainage is afforded. In this 

 discussion it should be remarked that only the so-called white alkalies. 

 th(^ chlorides and sulphates are referred to. While the date is in a 

 degree resistant to the black alkali, sodium carbonate, but a very small 

 per cent of it could b^e tolerated. 



These facts regarding the date pahn are of the utmost economic 

 importance in relation to the development of Southern California. In 

 both Coachella and Imperial valleys, with climatic conditions equal to 

 any in the world for the production of dates, there are hundreds of 

 acres of land backed by an adequate supply of water either from 

 artesian welLs or from the Colorado River, where the surface soil is 

 somewhat too strong in alkali for the growth of my known field crop, 

 yet where the date would thrive mo^t admirably. 



CULTURE AND MANAGEMENT. 



In its cultural requirements the date palm is the most unique and 

 interesting, perhaps, of any tree yet introduced into this country. 



Dioecious in character, except in the case of occasional rare examples.* 

 that is. bearing the male and female flowers on separate trees, a mis- 

 cellaneous plantation of seedlings would on the average contain about 

 half of each, and as the date is wind pollinated, and the pollen impal- 

 pably fine and light, the fruiting blossom would mostly receive pollen 

 and an abundance of fruit 'be set. As an economic proposition, how- 

 ever, in a plantation of choice varieties, such a number of male trees 

 could not be afforded when a few would furnish all the flowers necessary 

 . tc pollinate the whole grove if the work is done artificially, so in 

 practice one male tree is set for every fifty or one hundred fruiting 

 trees. 



The seedling males differ greatly in the time of flowering, and in 

 the amount of pollen afforded, two flowering for the first time at Mecca 

 this spring, proving entirely sterile, the anthers being merely empty 

 sacks. Other male trees flower so late as to be of no value, for their 

 use upon belated fruiting flowers would only produce clusters of dates 

 too late for ripening. 



So it comes about that a male variety affording an abundance of 

 potent pollen at a desirable sea-on is highly valued, and offshoots from 

 it are set instead of taking chances on seedling varieties. 



With both male and female sorts the seasonable application of water 

 has much to do with the earliness of flowering, and a tree has recently 

 come under my notice where irrigation had been neglected earlier in 

 the season that upon receiving an abundance of water later is just now 

 flowering considerably out of time for the variety. 



One important diuieulty with the work at Tem|>e. ^Mecca. and the 

 private enterprise- at Heber. in the Imperial Valley, is the lack of a 



*Two seedling trees hav- 

 taker of the Temne Co-oper: 



.1 near Tempe. Arizona, by Mr. Simmons. care- 

 Garden, bearing both male and female flowers. 



