Arizona republican., 1899-09-17
AMERICAN DATES
Palm of inc ADCienfS Likely 10 Be-
 come PIGn:ifuI in inc Southwest.


 times used for Tathar curious purposes, says the Irrigation Age. A number Of years ago several wagons drCve up to the pcstCfIice at Washington, D. C., and deposited a number of large tubs con- taining handsome palms. Having de- kvered themselves Of their freight, the wagons drove off The pcstoffice peo- pie went out to see what the. perform ance meant. and found to their sur prise that these palms were to be s:nt through the mails. The Ecu3l superin- tendent at first said that the office would not send them. It was prep0s- tsrcus, he maintained, to mail such things. Each tub, full of moist earth and good sized palm, was as much as two men could handle and on ac- count Of the foliage they could net be Facked to any advantage. NsYerthe- less, there were the tags E1l the tubs containing the frank" Of the depart ment of agriculture and the proper ad- dresses-Las Cruces, New Mexico; Phoenix and Pima, Arizona: Pomcra. Tulara, etc, CaE:fcInia-and tse only thing for the Washington pcstofica officials to do was tcl mail them So this was done, although it necessitatad special arrangements to care fer and water the palms. Thus practically commenced date growing in the United States.
 Cf these trees, about forty are now living and thriving, fifteen of them | having blcsscmed. Only seven of i these, however, are pisill2te or fruit | bearing trees. Since this fist attempt ! at American date culture, the agricul- ] tural department has folloWed LID the | question, and Secretary Wilsca during | the past year, has had an expsGit in AL 1 Geria, Ml. SWingie. making a thorough ! study cf this subject and sending home | plants.
 The secretary proposes to spend p:r- haps S10,000, during the next two i years Of the money allotted him by congress, for the introduction Of use ful foreign plants The dates n-w be- ing secured in A1gsr:a and Morocco are Of the very finest kinds and are shipped in tubs, the same as was done in the original importation. Sec-e- tary Wilson states it as his belief that arcther American industry will result rom this experiment, 2S he believss that dates will thrive as well in Ari- zCna, as in Arabia.
 The regions in which the date Galm reaches perfection, are characterized by deficiency of rain and wide vaIia- tion Of temperature. The summer heat is intense, 115 degrees or more, though in winter the tempIatuIe may fall as low a. 16 degrees above zero. AL though the date palm requires intense heat in summer, it will withstand in winter temperature that would be fatal to the fig or the orange. These climatic conditions are practically identical with those that obtain in the more southern portions of the great Colorado desert. So great is the simi- larity, in fact, Mir Wi,son says, that so far as climate is concerned, we may expect the G4te palm to il fruit satisfactorily in the arid regions 0f the southwest. The experiments carried On through the department { show that probably the sol best adapt sd to the date palm is the enc contain ng 8 small percentage of clay, fairly ,ree frcn humus, and charged with all zali. Irrigation and heat are all i'm Dortant conditions. Water is tndis Densible. The roots should ba moist.i It all times. An old Arabian prOverb says that: |,
 The date must have it's head in fire { md it's roots in the water.'' T
 The water used may advantageC z 1e quite warm and contain alkali. I Dates may, however, be plan5ed alCng [ dreams, or by springs Or feed basins, ( md n suoh situations will grow well; .dding much to the landscape by their ( -1aceful pinrats foliage. The future I # the date industry in the Uni5ed ] States, however, depends upon irriga- I ion, and upon irrigation which will [ lot fail in the dryest seasons. Irriga- ion in tha Sahara has greatly in | reased the date areas Of Af,ic3 and I he ccnditiCEs are 90 similar in cur r wn southwest under artificial water \ ng that the success of the indus1y z hsre seems assured.
 Varieties Of dates are almost innu- i neEable. They differ greatly in thir r olor, size, sweetness, dslicacy Of flavor nd l5ng5 h 1f time required to mature. ne dates of commerce are usually ight oolc-5d, these being shippers. The 1ale and female flowers cf the palm : re borne cn different plants, the fe lales CnIy bearing the fruit. The lcss5ming pe-Ecd is a lCng one, usu- o fly about six weeks, but is always . 3te, thus escaping spring frOsts. The I. versg yield of a tres is eight bUnc1ss b ach weighing about seventeen pounds, r though a bunch may weigh as much 5 forty pounds. In Arizona, under .rigaticn, seeding trees, sevsn years d, have produced upwards 9f 200 cunds in single season. |
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