Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-01-21
The Agricultural Department En-
oourages the Idea.
PECULIAR HABITS OF TEE TREE
lmportations Of Many Varieties Now
in Bearing
CON NJ ERCIAL PROSPECT

Tor the past two years in that section is
taking kindly to ITS adopted cnvirrunn,p.
ard is likely 10 prove profitable fer its fruit.
OF the palm family. which is i'm an prob
ABILITY native of Africa. Americans are
familiar with but few species Tn, IaInief-
TO OF the south and tie fan palm. which
grows here and there in the moist cauous
OF southern California. are the commences.
The date grows freely ia southern Calirar-
MA rs an ornamental tree, but never fruits.
The cate palm was brought to America hy
the Spaniards il. the seventeenth century.
and was first planted in Florida. Thence III
may be traced al missions Throughout
Mexico snG that part Of the United States
which was formerly Spanish territory. H,ra
and there at these stations Seeding aa.,
PAINS arr found growing. and in some ca ..s
producing fruit But hitherto the dat
Iaim mas been grown merely as an orna-
Old Trees
The Spanish residents OF Arizona have AL
ways ma ! a firm faith in the possibility of
raising dates successfully in thu SOUTH
western part OF that state and they ha,.,
from time to time planted and taken care
ol many trees. Around Yuma there are a
idInper OF trees that have been in bearing
from ten to fifteen years. Around tnr ter
rl'orlal prison at that place there are man.
that nave been be lring for fifteen wears II
y supposed that these were from date seeds
thrown away by prisoners or cmployrs a,
III. prison some time during the oivil war.
Al Glendale seVen-ycar-old palm pro
duced last year 800 pounds Of long brown
"ateS OF me havor. At Phoenix one tree.
yielded an equal amount of large and las
ci0us fruit of excellent quality.
The date palm is distinctly of two sa,-..,
ana II Is the female tree which prodl..,.-
the frnlt. Some bear white dates and others
brown, the latter being regarded as ricb.r.
ana sWeetcr IN haVor In the scarcity of
trees from which to secure pollen il nfte,,
happens that a thrifty strong tree produces
no fruit- Yet cases are reported Wher.
bees carry pollen half a mile or NOR ana
Iertillze the blossoms and the tree. thus
produces fruit.
Imported Specimens
In 1890 the Department of AgricuIt1ire
Imported from Algeria and Esypt a num-
Der of the choicest date palms known In
the horticulture of the east These were
labeled with various Arabian names. such
as Amhat Amreeyeh, Hazaneh. Rashae
Gen. Sultaneh, Zeb-el-Aled II was sun
posed that one male and one female pIanf
OF each variety We're sent in this collector
MUCH doubt, however EXISTS as Ia IN, sos.
OF most of these trees, and thus far tba
it results have not been entirely sat
ISiactofy. Specimens of all of these palms
that are still living are growing M tho eN
pertinent station at Tucson Natives Of
turkey VINO nave visited that section have
Oeeh much interested to see the date palm
Growing so far from their native ma ana
nave given great deal of Information as
10 lS culture and the customs observed IA,
inc east in regard to the tree They saw
that the male palms are never named. but
the females which produce fruit are give,,
quite poetical titles. For instance ~. A.,
reeyeh and Rasheedeh are names of W.
men. Hazaneh, the name of one of H.,
imported dates. means the broken heated
woman. These imported palms have nor
grown as rapidly or as tail as tn. seaIti,,,.
ana range in height from seven TO twelve
rect 1hey have all suckered abundanttv
ana IL would be an easy matter to propa
So Nhe various species. Yet this has prov
ed exceedingly difficult.
Favorine Conditions.
But nine palms have been raised from
the original importation. The absence of
frost, the alkali of the soil. the dry. sunny
atmosphere the year round and the low ele-
Vatloh OF the Mesilla valley seemed to afford
ideal conditions for the growth of Tho dat.
and hOrticulturists hope that ulfimateI,,
when these palms become acclimatad The
INDUSTRY VIII develop rapidly and become
profitable.
of the original seventy-four Mains i'm
ported, it is known that thirty-nine arc now
living. or these, fifteen have blossoms. and
OF this number seven are pistillate or fruit
bearing trees. The names attached 10 the
various palms must have become confused
as some that We're supposed to be mals
proved TO ne female, and vice versa OF
course, irrigation is used with all these
trees. The date is essentially a plant from
the not arid tropics. and IL will not thrive
in humid climate. yet its roots are con-
tinually thirsty. Horticulturists say that
it has been known for centuries that abe
date palm will succeed an ornamental
tree, and attain considerable size i'm Spain
France and Italy, where it failed utterly as
a fruit tree.
The question of hardness does not enter
into the problem as TO fruiting. In north
ern Egypt the date palm frequently endures
winter temperature at night several de-
grees below freezing. 1t is not the cold of
the winter, but the absence of the warmth
of the intense and prolonged dry summer
heat that prevents the date from showing
its fruit-bearing capabilities.
How to Propagate.
The date is a child of the desert. which,
to the Arabian proverb, has
its head ia the fire and its roots in the
water" The question of soil is also mat
ter to be nicely considered. 1t is said the
fruit is better on the poor soil where there
is a large percentage of clay, an absence
of humus and the presence of saline mat
ter. Irrigation is best done In the night
and should be abundant. The right way TO
propagate a date is not from the seed, but
from the suckers In Algeria and Egypt
every fruit-bearing date has its own par
ticular name, just much as the children
in the family. and the offspring Of this tree
takes the name of the mother tree Two
thirds OF the male plants are destroyed.
About fifty trees can be planted 10 the
acre, and under the right conditions they
will begin to bear in eight years, and as
long as the conditions continue favorable
will produce fruit. The date lives to a
very old age there being trees that are
known to be several centuries old. Under
good cultivation ii produces from ten TO
fourteen of its beautiful leaves in a year.
and thrifty tree has from thirty to sixty
leaves al a time. the old ones dying away
below as the new ones form at the top.
FertiIixing the blossoms.
The question of polarization requires at
tention from the date farmer or he will
get no crop. A good deal of skill is re-
CURED to distinguish the two sexes and
regulate this matter of fertilization. Last
year a large number of female trees at
Tucson and AraZola We're successfully fer
tilted with pollen sent by mail from Phoe-
nix. In Algeria and Egypt every spring
panicles of staminate flowers are sold in
the market places to be taken home by the
purchasers and supplied to the blossoms On
the female trees. Some idea of the COM
mercial demand for dates in this country
"a 10 he Foa ~