The Meeker herald. [volume] (Meeker, Colo.) 1885-current, 1905-08-19

OF tnOSe VINO read II. The American
grown dates at the st. Louis Fair last
summer were still very much Of a
curiosity, though favorably commented
OH by those who tasted them. 1t is our
national habit. on the discovery TINT
MI addition can be made to our list of
products. agricultural or manufactured.
to inquire, first of all, how much we
are now paying Foreigners for the same
article. In this Instance the custom
house statistics show that we are buy
ing rather more than twenty million
pounds Of dates per year, and paying
for them above n third Of a million dol
lars annually. Though we produced
30 few ourselves that the census of
1900, which embraces nearly every
product under the sun, makes no men
ton Of dates. a tarlif duty Of one-half
cent per pound Is levied on them. But.
aside from the commercial possibilities
Of the Innovation, 1t furnishes fas-
cinatIng chapter In the history Of agG-
culture.
Like the fig tree. the date was first
planted In this country by the Spanish
mission fathers OF California. Re-
hewed efforts to Introduce 1t were made
soon after the Mexican War. when
the region most resembling the native
home of the tree was entered by Amer
lean settlers. They, like the early
friars contented themselves with
planting the seeds OF imported dates.
Some twenty-five years ago the first
tmpOrtutiOns OF rooted suckers were
made. The Department of Agrlcul-
ture secured some as far back ms 1889,
but they met with various mIsfortunes
from flood, cold weather md the gen.
eral accidents of travel, and few of
them came to anything. Up to Ave
years ago, In short, the two lessons
most thoroughly learned by those in
terested In date growing were that
not more than one In eight of the palms
raised from seed would produce soft
and marketable dates, and that the
growth OF a tree to the most luxuriant
proportions was no guarantee that it
would ever produce any dates at all.
Ever since 1899 the Department Of
Agriculture has received, year by year.
"A succession of specimens Of new vari-
cites. In 1900 more than 400 offshoots.
including twenty seven varieties, were
shipped by Mr.. Walter T. Swingle
from Algiers, and he contributed to the
Agricultural Year Book" of that year
an elaborate paper on date culture.
The next year consignment was re-
ceived from Egypt. BY 1902 the
orchard established by the Department
Jointly with the State University Of
Arizona included eleven acres. with
$50 Imported trees and eighty native
seedlings. A year ago another date
garden was established in the Colo
RADIO desert, and specimens Of forty
seven additional varieties were OBJ
tanned, partly from the Algerian ga
hara region, and partly from the oasis
of M'Zab. Last autumn the Depart
ment dispatched another scientist to
the date regions of Southern Tunis and
Eastern Algeria, where, In the Oued
Souf country, the dnte trees grow in
the narrow sheltered valleys between
enormous snnd dunes. Similar snnd
hills exist in some parts Of California.
and 1t is already proposed to plant date
trees in the protected hOllows. Private
growers are taking up date planting
In steadily increasing numbers.
1t is said, and 1t is very easy for the
everyday consumer to believe that the
best of the African dates do not come
to America, but are snapped up by the
buyers from Italy and France. Thus
the hope is held out that the home
grown date will be actually superior
in quality and flavor to the present i'm
portations. The dnte palm is affected
but little by alkaline soils, but de-
mands the most intense heat and sun
shine, with abundant water at its roots.
Under irrigation, these are exactly the
conditions to be obtained In some of
the arid belts OF the Southwest. Thus
the study OF the dnte has Its part in
the conquest which scientific agrlcul-
ture is making OF lands once consld.
cred worthless. Next Is to come, per-
haps, the pistache nut, OF whose life
history the Bureau Of Plant Industry
has just completed an extensive study.
The wild species Of this nut are the
only plants which will grow to the
proportions of large trees In the desert
Of Saharn.
The most important Of the exotic
fruits have been SO long in this country
that IT is not commonly realized how
short has been the time since they be-
came commercial crops. The fig, al
iutle<i to in another connection. had
been growing abundantly In most Of
the States and eaten M fresh fruit
for scores Of years. but until the intro
duction of the remarkable tix insect
In 1000. 1t was impossible To produce
pound that could compete in the
market with the famed Smyrna vari-
ETY.. The olive was brought to this
country early In the seventeenth CEN
tury, and trees supposed TO I've nearly
40 years old are now sanding In
California, yet. according to the his.
t0fy Of the industry aiSes l., the