Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 283, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 November 1910 — RAISE FINE DATES [ARTICLE]

RAISE FINE DATES

Palms Thrive in Sun of Southern California. Demonstrated That Condition* In Coachella Valley Ar* Favorable to Development of First-Class Fruit. Los Angeles, Cal.—The date industry In California promises to become a factor in the fruit markets of the world, for it has been proved that the conditions in the Coachella valey are more favorable to the development of the date of first quality than of any other country where the date is grown. It has also been demonstrated that a much larger percentage of first quality dates can be Produced from the seed than in the Saharan cases. » tn planting the date seed plant in rows thirty feet apart, placing the seed about eighteen inches apart in e row, thus planting about one housand seed to the acre. During the first few years any kind of crop wk be cul tivated between the rows. When the palm is three years old it begins to blossom. At this time the process of thinning begins, and the male plants can be taken up and sent to the city to be planted as ornamental trees. From this time until after the fifth year the thinning and rearranging In rows must be properly attended to and, according to best authority, growers may expect at least |°ne hundred plants of the best quality -of dates out .of the one thousand seeds planted to the acre, and as the

plants should be at least thirty feet apart each way when twelve or fifteen years of age, they will have fifty good plants to the acre to dispose of. but when one considers the profit to be derived from the first offshoots, which may be expected from a five-year-old plant, one will be tempted to leave the plants -fifteen feet in the row for a few years at least A conservative estimate places an average of four offshoots to the plant five years old, and an average of one offshoot to the plant a year for the next five years. The offshoot always bears fruit identical with the parent tree. In this way the parties who plant the first seedling orchard will be in line

to reap a rich harvest- for their surplus offshoots, for the \lmported offshoots will be very expensive for several years to come, besides, after transporting the offshoots on the backs of camels across the burning sands of the Sahara desert to the* ocean liner, lying upon the docks at both ends of the line, then transported by rail to the Indicated farms, the plants will certainly be considerably weakened, and- will require a year of tender nursing. Even though the plants cost $25 each, and not more than one-half survive the rough treatment, there yet remains a fortune to the one who engages In the date business in this favored location.