Imperial Valley press., 1923-07-16

MT. SlltlnDlln DelleNCS his HictHouS
all right for light soils, some modi-
fications would have to be made in
heavy soils. Even on hard soils, he
believes the water should come up
, against the trunk of the palm and
not be run around it in trench.
Box Roofing Method
The crowd went over to DR.. w.
Il. FAIRIES date gardens, where the
| doctor gave most excellent talk
and demonstration of roofing off
shoots by the boxing method.
1t must be understood that here
The palms were planted even with
the surface of the soil, and conse-
quently the offshoots are from
eight to so inches up from the
ground, on the side of the palm.
The method formerly used of get
ting these offshoots to root was to
take them off tn parent palm and
either set them out in the orchard
in nursery rows, or in permanent
position or else in an offshoot root
ing hothouse. DR.. FAIRIES, however,
conceived the idea of building a box
around the base of the offshoot
filling this with dirt and getting
the offshoots to root in this.
The first step in the process is
to wire the offshoot to the parent
palm. This is done by passing two
loops of about No. II or 4 galvan-
lied iron wire around the offshoot
about Il foot above the terminal
butt. A very few of the basal leaves
ere then cut off from the base of
the offshoot, taking care not to cut
off the base Of the leaves, which
might blight the bud. This is done
with Il regular two-inch chisel and
mallet, a small, sharp axe and a
saw. A box is then built around
the offshoot and moist dirt filled
in. When there are several off
shoots to be rooted on the palm,
the boxing is made all around the
palm, the boxing being of inch
boards 10 to 12 inches wide. The
dirt in the box is kept moist by
pouring in water.
Boxed Two Months
The box is left around these off
shoots for about two months, at
which time the roots will be two to
four inches long, which is the most
desirable length, DR.. FAIRIES elieves.
The box should not be left on too
long, or else the offshoot will send
out too many roots. If the boxing is
done in May and June, which is usu-
ally the best time, the offshoot will
be ready to set out in July or Au-
gust, or else when well rooted.
The offshoots are taken from the
parent palm with very great care so
as to disturb the newly formed roots
as little as possible. Rooted off
shoots are then set out in the gar
den IL holes which contain water,
DR.. FAIRIES preferring this to plant
ing dry and then watering.
/. A large leaf surface is neces-
sary to produce large crop of
dates.
.. 1t takes five or six years for
Il palm to grow enough leaves to
mature over 100 pounds of dates.
Only dead leaves shouLd be cut off
3. A large area of ground must be
kept moist continually to supply the
roots feeding such large leaf area
If the root area dries, the leaves
will die.
4. Naturally, the offshoots arc
rooted while connected with the
parent palm, so they should not be
separated until the offshoot is firm
lv rooted in the soil incloscd by
boxing.
5. Both early and late blossominc
males are needed to give success
sion of pollen.
Worlds Largest Date Nursery Seen
After lunch the conference visit
ed the Cook Date Gardens near In
dians Wells where the largest date
offshoot quarantine nursery in the
| world is located. There are 5000
offshoots all of the Sadly variety
planted in 1922, and brought in
from Egypt and Arizona. Before
leaving Egypt they were treated
lOr Scdle, anu AGAIN on arriving
here, whore they are kept under
government quarantine and inspect
| ed for scale at regular intervals.
The offshoots which were brought
in from Egypt were selected there
| by Prof. S. c. Mason. On arrival
here, being naturally rather dry,
most of them, about 1900 were put
| i'll under cover in the offshoot
house. The larger offshoots, some
800 in all, were put out in the
orchard. The offshoot roofing house
is covered on top by canvas and
| has sides made of lx8 inch boards
with a space of an inch wide be
tween each board. There are two
units, and each unit has a large door
at each end which are kept open
all through the hot season.
No fertilizer was used before
| planting, neither has it seemed de
| sirable to use any since. The Off.
shoots, inside the house and out
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