Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1911-08-20

9ASHINGTON, D. c. Special to The Bee.)
All Uncle Sam raised enough dates last
wv year to give every man. and
child in the country a handful and leave
lVETTEHSI some to spare. The amount TO-
kSAzsASJ 100000 pounds, and the fruit
fine that which comes from the
of the Sahara Much of it raised about the Sal
ton sea- Southern California where it hot that
the hens said to lay boiled eggs and where, is
alleged by others there is only sheet of brown pa
per between it and the lower regions. other dates
grown in the Rio Grande valley of Texas, and
others the scorching sands of southern Arizona.
The Arabs say that the date palm have its feet
in the and its head in the burning
Those the Conditions in many parts of our
great southwest The is white hot, but by irriga
ton the palms kept moist, and they produce this
delicious fruit, which contains than any
other earth These potential date regions very
extensive. have been nquiring about them of the
Agricultural department and Mr.. Walter T. swngle,
who has special charge of this industry, tells that
we several million that will raise excellent
Hates, and that could, II would, supply all the
Hates that eaten by man.
The Dates the Sahara
But before 1 give you my talk with Prof Swinge,
let you through of the countries of
the world Many of our dates come from the Sahara,
that great stretch of desert which North
Africa, covering almost much land as the whole
United States / have visited a number of its GASES,
and have picked dates from the trees.
sand and rock. There $4,000 square miles of
them territory equal twice that of Ohio Kentucky
and Virginia and upon all of them the chief crop is
dates. Each oasis is measured not by its but
by the number of date trees it contains and the
French of Morocco Algeria taxN people accord
ing to the size of their orchards
Dates have the same place in the Sahara that our
wheat has in the north and cotton in the south. 1t
the CROP and the chief support of the people
IL that loads the of camels that
IN fro
called bread of the Sahara for in places the
Arabs but little else, the fruit being fed to the
camels and even to dogs
This date stock feed. however is different from the
fruit we have in America. The GASES have many
kinds Of dates as have apples. There more
100 different date palms in the Sahara and many
others in the Persian gulf region The dates eat
are full of sugar and so juicy that they
must be drained before being packed. The favorite
Adste of the Sahara is dry date which be kept
Wong time, and which is sometimes pulverized and
cooked Another date is deliciousy sweet. 1t is of
yellow color, and is plump prune before 1t is
pressed.
Persian Gulf Dates.
One of the most interesting date regions of the
world is about the Persian gulf in the valley Of the
Euphrates not far from where the Tower of Babel
Stood and the supposed location of the Gar
den of Eden. l have talked about this country with
Mr.. David Farchild, the agricultural explorer, who
has gone around the world, like a watch spring,
-YsszaSuce into the United States. He made special
trip study the date groves of the Persian gulf which
are still furnishing of that fruit that
America. Mr.. Fairchild says there something
like 10000 900 date palms in that territory and that
unbroken date forest along the Shatel-Arab,
which forms the mouth of the Euphrates and Tigrs
rivers for distance of seventy miles. That
mighty date grove is several miles wide, and 1t
tans altogether about 5000 900 trees 1t is irrigated
by the river, the tides backing the fresh into
the canals and giving the roots of each palm a bath
twice day.
The Persian dates of hundreds OF varieties and
Mr. Farchild heard OF that said to be seed
less, in this respect corresponding perhaps to the
naval orange which is common all over our
country.
Mr. Fairchild sent shoots of several varieties of
dates to the United States thus instru-
mental in giving of the first trees planted in
our arid 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.
In United States than any other, however, Mr..
Walter T. swinge, who a botanist plant breeder
ranks high Luther Burbank, the so-called wizard
Of California. Mr.. Swingle has bred new dates new
Digs and citrus fruits, including oranges which
can grown far north central Georgia. He has
been lagely instrumental in introducing the date and
the fig into country, and has also given the
pistachio and other valuable plants of the Medterran
region. He has been connected with the Depart
OF Agriculture for than twenty years, and
became interested in the introduction OF dates and
figs during his stay at Naples. where he went to study