Arizona republican., 1911-12-17
WHAT DATE CULTURE WILL
 DO F0R STATE OF ARIZONA
Valuable and Readable Article This Subject Written Especially for The Republican by A. E. vinson, of the Arizona Agricultural Experiment Station-More Ex- tended Planting of the Date Palm is Earnestly Ad- vocated

effort to grow it. It appears, how
 ever, more rational to select and
 stand by a variety that, although in
 many respects inferior. will yield a
 definite revenue every year regardless
 of climatic conditions. than to at
 tempt growing a fancy date worth
 four or five times as much but that
 will meet cultural conditions only in
 unusually favorable seasons.
 A date of first quality should pos
 scss certain characteristics The
 seed should be small and perfectly
 smooth; the fibrous material about
 the seed should be small in amount,
 giving the flesh of the date "meati-
 ness; the fruit should be large, but
 many small dates are otherwise of
 excellent quality; the skin should be !, thin but adhercnt to the pulp; and
 the flavor should be delicate and per siStcnt These properties are pos sessed by many varieties. but there remains one other character of little interest to the consumer but of cru Cial importance to the sIuyer Tn which most of them fail. Perma- ncnt commercial success under Ari-
 zona conditions is open to those varieties, more than to all others
 that mature evenly and tolcrably carly. E.venncss of maturity means
 that practically the whole crop can be harvested in adverse years; that
 the fruit may be ripened artiUc.ally
 t0 an even product; and that the
 crop may be cut by the bunch in-
 stead of picked by the individual
 fruit Dates that possess this char
 acter may be cut in the mature but still hard condition and shipped to distant markets. where they may be
 ripened artificially to an even and
 perfect product. Such varieties will
 prove suitable to hang in the stores and retail by the spray, thus elim-
 mating the expense of hand picking. baskets. crates and packing At conservative estimates. valuing the
 fruit at three to five cents q pound and an annual yield of ta to 100 pounds per tree. dates of this type should yield greater yearly profit per acre than most crops now grown
 in Arizona. and that with a mini mum of labor.
 There is no longer a problem Of arNficially ripening dates It may be accomplished in any one of num- Crous known ways. all of which seem to depend on the same underlying principle: namely. when the date has reached a certain necessary degree of maturity. give it a tremendous shock and it will then ripen of itself. The shock may be physical or chemical but the result will be the same They may be heated or treated with vapOrs such as those of acetic acid. nitrous ether, gasoline. volatile oils, carbon dioxide and other volatile substances or soaked in solutions of vinegar, acetate of soda or potash. salicylates. bcnzoate and many other chemicals. Artificial methods in superfluity have been perfected; what is now wanted are dates Of suitable quality in com mercial quantities.
 There are many seedlings of fair quality scattered over the territory. but most of them ripen too unevenly to have any considerable value; they would prove too expensive to handle. In those cases where the artificial ripening methods seem to fail, the blame should be placed on the var iety of date and not on the method. In other cases only a few of the ar ripened fruits will be pala- table, the others softening but re- maining insipid. This is directly the fault of immaturity in the green date, and indicates an uneven matur- ing variety. These troubles are all easily overcome by the selection of suitable varieties.
 By far the best commercial date in the worlds market today is the Deg let Moor. II is almost d perfect fruit from the consumers point Of view. and under favorable climatic conditions is very profitable to grow. IL commands the highest price on the market and is in fact fancy or rich mans date. But at the Tempe Date orchard. with it's wet soil and occasional october rainfall. it has not yet shown itself a success. The hotter and drer valley of the Colo rado offers much greater probabilities of success for this variety, which has succeeded well in Salton Basin both as naturally and as an artificially ripened product.
 The Deglet Moor has several faults. Its late maturing properties and high heat requirements to ripen nat uraily will seldom he met in south ern Arizona at attitudes above 800 feet: and it furthermore is an eXcep- tion among dates in that it cannot pass a long, wet period in the un- ripe conditions. In exceptional sea- sons the Deglet Moor has given some reasons for hope that it might be made to prosper in Salt River Valley in spite of weather conditions there, but the question is by no means solved. with the preponderance of against the Deglet Moor.
 Salt River Valley and probably other valleys of southern Arizona. however. can grow poor mans dates without question. and both to the advantage of the consuming public and to the profit of the grower. Why not turn our attention temporarily at least to that which we are sure We can do and leave the uncertainties for the future? The two classes of dates will never clash interests because the cheaper varieties we are about