160 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
wards, lengthwise, and in the peculiar 
form of their seeds, as seen in the com¬ 
mon Date Palm stones. Some of the 
species, like the Canary Island Date and 
the Indian Date, have solitary trunks, 
very massive and of great height, while 
others are tufted, producing suckers free¬ 
ly, like Phoenix reclinata, etc. Most of 
the latter group are small, some of them 
belonging to the smallest and most 
charming of pot palms, like Phoenix 
Roebbeleni, Ph. rupicola and others. The 
tall growing kinds usually have very 
rigid leaves, their bases being provided 
with very long and formidable spines, in¬ 
flicting severe wounds when carelessly 
approached. The leaves of the small¬ 
growing species are often very soft to the 
touch, and the spines at their bases are 
not quite so sharp and dangerous. They 
all require a very rich soil and during 
their growth an abundance of water. 
While all the Cocos species spread their 
roots along the surface soil and are easily 
blown over if not set deep in planting, 
the Date Palms send their long rope-like 
roots to a considerable depth. It is not 
unusual to find roots of the Canary Is¬ 
land Date Palm twenty feet deep in the 
soil. All the tall growing species look 
very imposing as avenue trees, of which 
fine examples can be seen in the Tampa 
Bay Hotel grounds, on Fort George Is¬ 
land and elsewhere, they ought not to be 
used indiscriminately. Many years ago, 
the late P. W. Reasoner gave the follow¬ 
ing advice, which is worth repeating: 
“In planting out large and extensive 
grounds one mistake is commonly made, 
that of dotting the trees around at reg¬ 
ular distances apart, giving the appear¬ 
ance of a checker-board in a great degree. 
A group here and there, with now and 
then a single specimen apparently plant¬ 
ed indiscriminately, but really with an eye 
to the future and general effect, will make 
a great difference in the beauty of the 
picture. No rules can be laid down, 
however, upon this subject, but good 
taste, common sense and general fitness 
of things should go hand in hand with 
careful thought of how it will look in the 
future in laying out such grounds.” 
The Date Palms for horticultural pur¬ 
poses can be divided into two groups: 
1. Tall growing species, hardy all over 
Florida. 
2. Tufted and tender species, hardy 
in the orange belt only. 
Phoenix dactylifera , Linn, the Com¬ 
mon Date Palm, is, after the Cocoanut 
Palm, perhaps, the most useful fruit 
tree of the world, and the most celebrat¬ 
ed palm in existence. It is the palm 
tree of the Bible, and Palm Sunday has 
been named in honor of it. Enormous 
quantities of fruits are harvested in 
North Africa and in Persia, supporting 
whole populations of those dry and hot 
desert countries with food. Immense 
quantities are annually exported to Eu¬ 
rope and America. Although growing 
very well in Florida, the fruit of the 
Date Palm is valueless in humid clim¬ 
ates. In the dry and hot regions of 
Southern Arizona and California it 
grows and fruits, however, very satis¬ 
factorily. For this reason the Bureau 
of Plant Industry, U. S. Department of 
Agriculture has sent an expert, Mr. Wal¬ 
ter Swingle, to the home of the Date 
Palm to collect the best varieties and to 
