The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-08-22
BIG MONEYIFDATE
ann is Raising Tr0pic. :
Southeastern Deserts

, scratching its surface for new plants
ana trees to introduce into the United
states. He made special trip to
study the date groves of the Persian
gulf, which are still furnishing most
Of that fruit that comes to America.
Mr.. Fairchild says there are some
thing like 20 million date palms in
that territory, and that an unbroken
date forest runs along the Shat-el
Arab. which forms the mouth Of the
Euphrates and Tgris rivers, for a
distance Of over seventy miles That
mighty date grove is several miles
wide, and it contains altogether a bout
100000 trees. 1t is irrigated by the
! river. the tides backing the fresh wa
ter into the canals and giving the
roots Of each palm a bath twice a
day.
The Persian dates are Of hundreds
Of varieties, and Mr.. Fairchild heard
of some that are said to be edeSs,
! in this respect corresponding per-
haps to the navel orange which is
now so common all over our cOun-
try.
| Mr.. Fairchild sent shoots Of several
varieties Of dates to the United States.
and has thus been instrumental in
! giving us some of the first trees
planted in our arid West. He also
/ forwarded date trees from the
Fayoum, in Egypt, from Arabia and
from other places which he visited
during his travels.
Bringing Dates to America.
The man who has done more for
date culture in the United States than
any other however is Mr.. Walter 7.
Swingle who as a botanst and plant
breeder ranks as high as Luther Bur
bank, the so-called wizard Of Cali
/ L.
Idates new figs and new citrus fruits,
including oranges which can be grown
as far north as central Georgia. He
has been largely instrumental in in
Producing the date and the fig into our
country. and has also given us the
| pinstachio and other valuable plants
of the Mediterranean region. He
has been connected with the Depart
ment of Agriculture for more than
twenty years, and became interested
in the introduction Of dates and figs
! during his stay at Naples, where he
I went to study tropical agriculture
about decade or SO ago. He then
Travelled through Asia Minor ana
crossed over into Africa. going down
into the Sahara Prior to his visit
to the date regions there some seed
ling date trees had been grown IN
California and Arizona, and there mad
been attempts by the department 70
import shoots or suckers from the
date trees of Africa.
The chief way Of starting GATE
grove in the Sahara is to take up the
suckers, which sprout out from about
the trunk Of the palm, ana plant
them The method Of shipping them
to the United States was to set them
out in tubs near the trees from Wnlch
they were taken and to allow them
to grow for one year. At the eno
Of that time the plant in the tub was
sent to New York and thence to the
West. This method was costly. The
steamships did not like to handle the
tubs. and they charged fre!Eht at
the rate of one ton per tub The ex-
pense was almost prohibitive.
Mr.. Swingle conceived the idea OF
sending the shoots fresh from cne
tree He sent to Paris Tor oai ie
of a special kind of moss, and with
this, after it had been well wet. ne
wrapped the ends of the suckers. he
then tied each up in straw and pack
ed them in ordinary shoe boxes, Whlch
he was able to ship at the regular
freight rates. It was found that the
shoots arrived in Arizona and Can
fornia in excellent condition. They
were transplanted in the date gardens
there and rapidly grew.
Where Our Date Farms Are.
During his second visit to Algeria
Mr.. Swingle made one shipment OF
over four hundred Of these suckers
three-fourths Of which became trees
and since then we have had other
importations made the same way
Some of the suckers were set out al
Tempe, Ariz, not far from Phoenix
Theodore Roosevelt while President
thousands of pounds were harvested