Arizona republican., 1901-01-29
DATE CULTURE
A Paper on the Subject By Prof.
 McClatchie.

Dates being now grown in several
 several parts of the territory, and defl- {, nite information as to their culture be- | ing lacking, 1t is deemed wise to furn-
 ish present and prospective growers l weh biief ggestions along this line.
 Letters received from various parts of
 Arizona and elsewhere indicate grow
 ing demand for information relative to
 the culture of this fruit
 It seems to be now fairly we'll estab- lished that dates of a good quality and in Commercial quantities can be pro- duced in the warmer parts of Arizona. During the past year, three imported trees at the experiment station farm
 near Phoenix bore over 800 pounds, the fruit ripening between August and January. Trre portion placed upon the
 market gold at 25 cents per pound.
 wholesale, at Phoenix. Thousands of pounds could have been sold at this price. Packed In neat labeled boxes they retailed at 30 to 70 cents per pound.
 The seeding date trees in various parts of the territory bore last year
 40 to 200 pounds to the tree. Those of a good quality sod at 25 cents a pound, wholesale at Phoenix. For some years yet the principal part of the dates
 grown in the region will be on seed ling tree:.
 To secure the setting of the fruit of date trees and to bring 1t to maturity,
 1t Is important that certain precautions be exercised. To begin with in the win ter season trees should be permitted to
 remain without water and b keep as , nearly dormant as possible during the
 cooler mcnthg, that they may be sub
 jected to the danger of f:ost as little as possible. About the first of March
 irrigation may begin, water being ap- piled copiously until the trees begin to
 bloom. An abundance of water about
 the roots is said to stimulate blossom
 ing. When they have put forth their cluster of blossoms, water should be withheld until the fruit has set. Tn order to bring about the setting of
 the fruit. 1t Is essential that the female blossoms be pollehated, the date tree, unlike most other fruit trees, bears the tw- essential rarts on different trees.
 hence it Is necessary et,her that pollen
 beapng trees be grown near fruit bear
 ing trees. or that pollen be brought to
 the latter Last year q large quantity of datss failed to fill out properly be-
 cause of a want of information on this
 point or because of the inability of the
 owners of the trees to secure pollen at the proper time. If pollen n-bearing
 trees do not grow within thirty or for
 ty feet of fruit bearing ones, It will be neccssary to cut away clusters of the
 pollen bearing flowers and hang them
 in the fruit bearing trees. This must
 be done very soon after the female
 flowers apcar or 1t will be too late for
 fertilization to take place. If pollen
 ated too late. the result is often the development of a few of the later-blos- soming flowers, while the rest remain
 undevoloped and seedless. It is not
 necessary to depend upon the pollen
 produced the same year that 1t is de- sire to pollenase the female blossoms
 since pollen may be kept from year to year and dusted upon the female flow CTS at the proper timc
 After having made sure that the fe- male flowers have been adequately pol
 ,enated, the date trees will require lit tie attention, except occasional water inG. for several months. As the dates approach their full size, 1t Is important that the trees be supplied with an abundance If water, 1t being impossible TO give them too much water from the time the fruit begins to ripen until 1t Is Sully matured A good way to in sure a thorough soaking of the soil about the roots is to make basin fif I. ty i., tar hy cavating some of the soil and throwing up circular ridge, and then to fill this basin with water about once week.
 As the dates begin to rpen, they will be devoured by various species of birds, the cactus wren and the Gila wood- becker being the most destructive about Phoenix. In order 10 save their dates from these depredations, some have resorted to procedure that has resulted in the wasting of much fruit the removal of the clusters from the tree than they may be taken to place of safety. Green dates once severed from the tree do not mature properly. In order that the tannic acid with which they are abundantly supplied may all change to the sugar that is SD desirable and which causes them 10 be so delicious. 1t is necessary that an abundance of water reach the fruit, And this cannot take place if the punches are removed from the tree and thus cut or from their water supply. If the ends of the cut stems are placed in a vessel of water and the clusters treated as a. bouquet the unripe dates will wither more slowly and more of them will come to maturity. Or the clusters may be enclosed in an air tight box; and loss of moisture from the truit thus checked, the water in the large stem commonly being sufficient to enable the necessary chemical changes to take place. But in no case will the flavor be equal to. that of those ripen- ing naturally upon the trees.
 A better way to save the fruit from the ravages of the birds is to cover the | clusters with cheese cloth. This can be easily and cheaply done by making | sacks of the proper size. slipping one | over each cluster, and tying the mouth | securely about the stem, the leaves | that might interfere with the work be- ing first cut away. Besides preventing |