The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1920-05-18


The largest ever to leave Africa. The
cases reached New York in July ana
were sent at once to Salt River VAL
ley in Arizona"
Years of experimentation followed
this country. A botanist, eXplor-
no the world for useful plants stud
les climates as well as soils. The
date palm, the queen OF trees,
reads an Arabian proverb, must
have her feet in running water and
her head in the burning sky
Date palms were tested both IN
Arizona and California. Dates were
grown, but they did not ripen. That
was serious situation" DR.. SWIM
Gle remarked. In their green state
dates are as pungent as persimmons.
The ripening process fills them
with sugar"
"Bv accident" DR.. Swingle said,
81 discovered the principle of how
dates ripen. l had been in Califor-
mia and had put bunch of dates in
one side Of my suitcase. Arrived IN
Washington | found that the dates
had ripened during my journey
across the continent. Again going
to north Africa l discovered that
dates were packed before they were
fully ripened, put in boxes and plac-
| ed on the backs of camels.
1.-THE desert is hot in daylight and
cool at night. Blankets were thrown
on the camels, the boxes still on their
backs, to keep them warm while they
slept. And the dates, hot during the
day and moist at night, ripened on
the camels' backs.
More than 200 varieties of date
palms were brought from the African
desert and planted in the United
States. All except eight or ten were
rejected as unsuited for conditions
in this country. Six thousand trees
are now growing in the Coachella
valley of California.
These palms are now producing
offshoots. An old tree has no off
shoots. 1t is believed that the palms
of the Coachella valley will yield
65, 900 offshoots, or sufficient for the
planting of two square miles of land.
Fifty trees are planted to the acre.
Each tree will yield from 200 to 800
pounds of dates. Ten thousand
pounds to the acre is an expected
average. Two-thirds of a crop is
marketable. At SO cents a pound
and American dates, packed like can
dy in boxes, have sold at still
higher price-the return would be
$4,000 an acre.
Twenty-three acres of date palms,
grown from seed by a man and his
wife in California, yielded crop
last year that weighed twenty-five
and a half tons, or $1,000 pounds.
The dates were sold at 40 cents a
pound and the gross return was $780,
400.
The growing of dates, however, is
mot an easy matter. A hot climate
and the means Of irrigatioP are
necessary Then the blooms of the
plants must be pollinated artificially.
THE Arabs and before them the AS
syrians learned to pollinate the
palms artificially," DR.. Swingle said,
"and from a small proportion of male
trees to ferti1ize the flowers of a
great number of female trees. At
the present time the proportion fol-
lowed in planting is that of about
one male tree to a hundred female
trees"
Experiments to grow Egyptian
cotton in the southwestern part of
the United States began in 1902.
They were carried on for ten years
In 1912 the commercial production
of Egyptian cotton was recommend
| ed by the department of agriculture
and seed was distributed in the spring
of the same year to farmers in the
Salt river valley of Arizona and the
Imperial valley of California.
That year 480 acres were plant
ed The yield was 375 bales of 500
pounds each. In 1913 the growing
of this particular kind of cotton was
confined to the Salt river valley and
3,80Os acres were planted. The acre
age was increased to 10000 in 1914,
but the crop was small because its
cultivation was not fully understood
by the farmers.
Story of a Plant.
Then another question arose. 1t
was seen that the purity of the seed
had to be preserved. Kearney in his
experiments had noticed particular
large, robust and fruitful cotton
pIdII. uS SSeu Oh CIllS pldIl1 was
saved and year by year was slowly
increased. In time all of the seed
was descended from that one plant.
Farmers were moving in from Tex
as and Arkansas and planting seed
of their own. The group of scient-
lists had to deal with thes men, if
the seed they had developed were
to remain pure and undefiled Those
who were willing to move we're herd
ed in one corner of the valley. The
others suffered the pressure. Mer-
chants would not let them have goods
on credit. Banks would not lend
them money. Owners would neither
sell them nor lease them land.
Farmers were willing to learn and
to take risks. Business men extend
ed credits DR. Swingle believes
that the production of Egyptian cot
ton in this country will reach $780,
600 bales yearly. About 1866
IoI