Imperial Valley press., 1924-04-04
BY E. L. GARTHWAITE
EARN Advisory

(Farm Advls0r)
| Undoubtedly one of the most i'm
i portant events in the history of the
agriculture of Imperial Valley has
!ust occurred in the signing by c.
! o. Bulls, manager of the Timker
! Ranch Company IS interests here, of
| contract with the Bureau of Plant
; Industry of the U. S. Department
of Agriculture to secure for Imper
! ial Valley two-fifths of the 5000
Sadly date offshoots imported in
1929 by the Department of Agri.
culture in cooperation with G. f.
Cook of Indio. This importation
was financed by Mr.. Cook, and un.
! der the terms of the contract, Mr.
Bulls will reeompense Mr.. Cook
! for two-fifths of tie entire expense
of the importation.
Since arriving in this country
these offshoots have been in Mr.
Cook S cooperative quarantine date
nursery at 1ndio, where they have
been under the constant inspection
of the L. S. Department of Agri-
culture to eradicate all parlatoria
scale, of which they are now entire.
! ~ free.
/ Mr.. Bulls expects to start moving
/ these offshoots down to Imperial
Valley Immediately, and will set
| them out on his ranch on Imperial
! avenue, just south of the 101 Ranch
| between Imperial and Brawley.
Under the terms of the contract
which Bulls has signed, these palms
must be maintained i'll quarantine
for 90 years and cannot be moved
from where they are planted with
! out the permission of the federal
plant quarantine authorities, under
whose control they remain for all
pest control purposes.
May Sell Offshoots
Three-fifths of the offshoots pro-
duced by the palms will be offered
for sale to bona fide date growers
who must plant not resell them. The
price at which the offshoots viii be
sold is So each for the first ten
wears and So for-+he, next ten years
of the contract. Preference shall be
given to date growers not already
having 100 trees of the Sadly vari-
etv. OF the remaining two-fifths
of the offshoots, fifth goes to
the [. s. Department of Agriculture
for experimental work, and the 9th
er fifth Bulls is allowed to keep
to dispose of as he sees fit. All the
fruit produced by the trees is kept
by Bulls, who acquires full title
to the trees at the end of the 20
year period.
Since Sadly palms produce 20 to
0 offshoots each, if only 1000 of
the offshoots which Bulls is Sc
curing grow, and each tree aver
ages % offshoots each there will be
$4,000 offshoots, $4,000 of which
will go to Imperial Valley date
grwoers, 5000 to the L. S. Depart
ment of Agriculture and 5000 to
Bulls In as much as no grower
can secure more than 100 offshoots,
here viii be Il very wide distribu
tion of the valuable offshoots. These
offshoots in their turn produce 20
to 80 offshoots each, which will
mean that offshoots will be at n
figure where the average rancher
can afford to set out an acreage and
get started in this highly profitable
industry. A..
IT is not probable that any off
Ihoots VIII be available for about
four years, but in about six years
these offshoots will be available in
arge numbers to date growers and
others in Imperial Valley.
Comes from Nile Valley
According to DIR. Walter T. Swim
gle, in charge of the date work of
the L. S. Department of Agricul-
ture, the Sadly pronounced Sigh
ay-dee with accent on the first
syllable) is the great export date
of the GASES of the Libyan desert to
the west of Egypt. 1t is also grown
on large scale III the Nile VAL
ley near Cairo where trees yield
enormous crops of good quality
fruit. I'm this part of the Nile Val
ley there are heavy dews during
more than half the nights of Sep
tember and October. Nevertheless,
this variety natures perfectly in
spite Of conditions which resemble
very much those prevailing in the
central part of Imperial Valley and
Yuma Valley and which have here
tofore prevented the Deglet Moor
variety being profitably grown in
Imperial Valley. Sadly is a very
large date, short and thick with
strong date flavor which has the
great advantage over most of the
date varieties that is improved on
storage instead Of deteriorating.
When first harvested in October and
November these dates are rather
soft and syprupy, but in the course
of the next two or three months the
syrup in the flesh slowly crystal
ICES into a mass somewhat resemb-
ing maple sugar. Sadly dates in
this condition are of delicious flavcr
p