The Arizona sentinel., 1896-08-15
The Future of CanaIgre.

TIC uLuEt Ol CdH&iSrCS
 As to whether canaIgre Is to become an important crop of the arid South west Professor Forbes of the Arizona Agricultural Experiment Station seems to have little doubt. In Bulle- tin No. 21 of that Station, just issued, he says:
 "Certain pecularities of canaigre seem favorable to its agricultural future.
 l. It grows in winter, when water is more abundant throughout the arid region This fact may renGer possible the reclamation of large tracts of land for which there is not sufficient irriga- ton in summer.
 2. The climate is mild in this season of the year and labor Is there fore more comfortable and effective.
 In case of extreme drouth the crop 1t not lost but the plant simply stops growth and waits for better conditions.
 A. Harvesting may occur at any time, and even with certain amount of improvement.
 As to the value of the product, it appears that under existing conditions the objective point is 8 crop which can be sold at from five to seven dollars ton.''
 In Bulletin No. 21, just issued by the Arizona Agricultural Experiment Station, appears the following descrip- ton of canaigre: "Canaigre is chiefly remarkable for it's tuberous roots, vary ing under different conditions of growth from almost globular to long and slender forms. Outside of the tubers the root system is not extensive, being distinctly smaller than that of beets or potatoes. In weight the roots range from fraction of an ounce to two pounds. Externally, the young roots are light in color, changing to brown, reddish brown or almost black with age. They live several years, usually five or more, but show very little new growth after about the third season. The roots increases after the manner of all ex- ogenous stems by adding layer of new tissue to the heart from without and to the bark from within. At the end of the growing season this white zone of new growth may always be | found in living roots between bark and heart, and, since the tissues tend to deepen in color from year to year, the older portions of the root, con- sisting of the inner heart and the outside layers of bark, usually possess much more coloring matter. often times the gradations of color in suc- cessiye rings of growth are so sharply marked that the age of a root is roughly shown by it's cross section.
 The brittle, heavy bark, often a quarter of an inch in thickness, is externally quite smooth in young roots, with occasional scars marking the points of attachment of smaller rootlets during the period of growth. The old roots are rOugher, often sha ygy and deeply cracked as the result Of rapid growth. The growing buds are at the crown of the root and are sometimes also borne on the feshy base of the stems, which Oc- casionally do not die but persist, seemingly in order to bring the buds nearer to the surface when the roots have been too deeply buried, In young roots the buds are conspicuous and prompt to grow but small and sluggish in old ones.
 The roots, usually erect in position appear normally at less than one foot below the surface, The root clusters, containing tuber5 of every size and age, vary much in arrange ment. Roughly speaking, the new roots surround the mother tubers, making cluster in which the old growth is centrally placed. Often times the new roots happen to form on one side of the mother tuber and, continuing in that direction, make a chain of roots connected at their crowns and in which the old growth is at one end. the new at the other J f hiS ,,,oOrtnr 1n nm, hnr