The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1888-09-22
pATE.PALM CULTURE.
One ofthc Promising horticultural Posi-
bllIties of California.

One OF the Promising horticultural POSI-.
bilitiss OF California.
The dnte-palm is the bread-fruit tree
OF the Orient, and the saaff OF life oi
the Arab. 1t flourishes best In the hot
and rainless regions OF tropical Asia
and Africa. Its roots, however, need
an abundance OF moisture. while Its
fruit, to secure perfect maturity, re-
quires perennial sunshine. "It plants
Its feet In the waters Of the earth and
raises its head to the fires Of heaven" !"
Is the poetic Arabian description Of
these characteristics OF the date-palm.
A grove OF majestic dnte-palms marks
the oasis in every desert in tropical
Asia and Africa.
illustrating the Importance Of the
date as an article Of food to the tribes
inhablting these tro opical oriental re-
gions, history records an instance
when an invading army endeavored to
subjugate tho in Inhabitants Of Mesopo-
tamia by destroying all the male trees
In the region, to prevent the female
trees bearing fruit. Date-palms, 1t may
be explained, are uni-sexual, and not
like most other plalfts, bi-sexual. The
intended calamity was avcrted by the
gathering in due season of the pollen
OF the male trees, which, owing to
great vitality, carried the invaded
territory safely through the years that
followed until new growth of male
plants was propagated The date also
forms an important article Of oriental
commerce., outranking in that respect
the fig. Like the fig, it is exported
everywhere.
Date culture may be classed among
one of the horticultural possibilities in
California. There are many districts
In the State where the meteorological
and climatic conditions are favorable.
Such is the case in the Mojave and
Colorado deserts, and in large area
of Tulare and San joaquin. Valleys.
There are also some sections of the
Sacramento Valley where freedom
from rain during tho fruiting and
ripening season and the prevalence Of
high temperature throughout the sum-
mer and autumn months make date
culture almost certain of SUCCESS 1rri-
cation canals in all these districts can
furnish the date-palm's roots with all
the moisture they require, and there
is cloudless sky and an almost tropi-
cal sun overhead to warm the fruit
into perfect maturity.
The cultivation of the date-palm has
been attended with success at the
ranch of J. r. Wolfskill, on Putah creek,
near Winters. Two magnificent date
.palms-male and female-stand in
front of that veteran horticulturist's
mansion. An enormous crop of deli
cious fruit has been obtained from these
trees. There is a promise of good
crop this year, the lunches of dates
of the female tree being we'll formed.
If the ripening season is reasonably
free from rain the crop will mature.
One or two showers, it is said, does
no material harm; but rain for two or
three days in succession ruins it. At
Elmira, point about fifteen miles
nearer San Francisco than Winters,
! date-palms have developed fruit, but
have thus far never matured it. At
Santa Barbara there are date-palms
which are said to have matured their
fruit. At San Diego and Los Angeles
there are date-palms growing that
were planted bv the Mission Fathers, but
we believe that they have never borne
fruit. 1t may be that the trees are not
properly mated or that they stand too
far apart for fertilization. This is a
common occurrence in Arabia, and the
Arabs overcome it by transferring the
pollen by hand, an act which they call
''marrying the dates"
These instances of date culture in
California are at present regarded
only among the curiosities of horticul-
ture. But they point very clearly to-
ward the possibilities of this branch Of
fruit-growing whenever it shall be
undertaken as business venture.
Almost every other form of fruit-grow-
ing in California has developed from
similar beginnings.-San Francisco
Bulletin.