The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-01-23

The polite disposition of the date pits bothered him for few minutes, until he decided not to swallow them or throw them in his pocket. When he re- turned to Phoenix some weeks later his wife discovered the date pits reposing in the coat pocket where he had placed them. When she was told what they were. and how they came to be there, she was inspired to plant them. to see if they would grow.
 With no idea that fruit would ever come of it. the date pits were planted and carefully tended. As was natural in an irrigated country, the planting was done along a ditch through which water was distributed from the canal to the thirsty land. The seeds sprouted and the sprouts grew. Years went by and the palms increased in size, until finally they blossomed.
 By this time the owners had become enough interested to seek all the avail able information on date culture. It was found that in their native country unless the blossoms are properly pollen ized they will not mature perfect fruit. Ordinarily the male trees grow wild, as they are too common to be kept in the cultivated orchards. When the female trees is sought, cut off and hung in the other tree, where the breezes and bees transfer its pollen to the other blos- sons. The result is the perfect fruit of commerce.
 Luckily for the Phoenix experiment, there were both male and female trees among those which grew from the pits and it was an easy matter to pollenize the blossoms so that good fruit was ma tured. Before the trees came into bear ing they put forth suckers or shoots sprouting from the stem. These were removed and planted, preferably in a circle about the parent tree, so that the good varieties were readily distinguish ed and the poor ones allowed to die out. One of the original trees was removed several yards from the spot where it had made it's first six or seven years growth and aside from a setback of one year in bearing fruit, it is now flourish ing as well as any. In all, this original orchard now contains about twenty five trees of all ages, and all strung from the original seeds.
 The blossoms are sent off from below | the oldest leaves on the tree, and as the fruit forms it looks. like the ordin- ary green pickled olive. From the broad. feshy stem hang two score oI I more of slender but tough strawlike stems, on which the dates grow thickly from all sides. When the fruit is re- moved the stem is called broom, and | it looks not unlike that common house | hold article. As the dates go on toward
 maturity they become heavier, until tht stem is bent downward in a curve ant
 the straws hang straight down witt
 their burden of fruit.
 First q golden yellow, and finally 3 1 light brown, the dates ripen and thu
 flavor of the date fresh from the tree t | as different from that of the dried arti ole of commerce as is the fresh grap,
 from the raisin.
 Some os the punches of dates attain
 a weight of forty to fifty pounds, and {
 half dozen may grow on a tree. It il
 common for a tree to bear 100 pounds O l fruit in a season. Ordinarily the tree: hears fruit every other year, with ar | occasional exception.
 | Tt has been said Of the date tree tha' ! it must have It's head in the fire ant | it's roo.s in the water or, in other words, be grown in an arid region witt 1 little rainfall, but with an abundance |