Vol. XIII. No. 311. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



109 



travelled 



collecting 



with the 



practices 



principal 



DATE GROWING IN THE OLD AND NEW 

 WORLDS. By Paul B. Popenoe. West India Gardens, 

 California, 1913. 



The author of this book of 316 pages ha.s 

 extensively in the Orient with the object of 

 information concerning the culture of the date 

 idea of introducing new varieties and the best 

 into California. 



From the commercial aspect, one of the 

 features of date cultivation is the reproduction of the plants 

 by offshoots, it being well recognized that the planting of 

 seedling dates gives rise to results of too uncertain a nature 

 to make the practice advisable. The reader will realize the 

 reason for this when the fact is mentioned that the date 

 palm in North Africa has been subject to natural hybrid- 

 ization for thousands of years. A considerable amount of 

 information is given concerning propagation by offshoots 

 and in regard to the importation into California of this 

 planting material. 



It may be said that the culture of the date palm 

 requires less pains and less skill than that of most fruits 

 and that the expense, as will be shown later, of growing it 

 is correspondingly less. It appear.s that pollination is the 

 only delicate operation to be performed, and the way that 

 this is done in the Orient by climbing the female trees and 

 tying the staminate flowers to the male ones is described in 

 a clear and interesting manner. 



Chapters are devoted in the book to the handling of 

 the crop, artificial ripening by means of carbon dioxide, and 

 the diseases and pests of the date palm. In the chapter 

 treating of the last mentioned subject, it is interesting to note 

 that the well known enemy of the coconut, the palm borer 

 {RhynchoporM ferrwjineus) is a serious enemy of the date 

 palm in India; but it does not yet seem to have been intro- 

 duced into the United States. The list of the insects which 

 attack the stored fruit are given in this chapter. 



One naturally turns with some interest to the chapter 

 on the profits of date growng. In this we are told that tak- 

 ing the average price at 20c. a pound to the grower, with the 

 conservative estimate of 100 Bb. per tree and fifty palms to 

 the acre we may calculate on a gross annual return from 

 a well-managed plantation of 61,000 per acre. The last few 

 pages of this chapter comprise a discussion of the relative 

 profits of citrus and date cultivation and the author comes to 

 the conclusion 'that the date grower has the advantage of the 

 citrus grower so far as cost of production is concerned, while 

 his profits on the sale of fruit are much greater.' These 

 remarks of course refer to the irrigated lands of California. 

 For the semi-arid regions it must undoubtedly be the case 

 that a well- organized date plantation must be productive of 

 very remunerative returns. Moreover the great advantage 

 of cultivating the date palm in the semi-tropics is that it is 

 not injured, as citrus plants are, by frost. 



A short chapter is given in the book on the food value 

 of the date, and it may be useful to put on record in these 



columns the following figures of the United Statss Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, which represent the percentage com- 

 position of the dried date: carbohydrates: 706 per cent; 

 protein, 19; fat, 2 .5; water, 13'8;a9h, 12; fibre, 100. 



The longest chapter in the book is reserved to the subject of 

 varieties. This section of the book seems to represent a great 

 deal of labour and should prove of great service and interest 

 to those connected with the establishment or development of 

 date growing in different parts of the world. It will also be 

 interesting to econonnc botanists generally. 



The volume is well printed and remarkably well illustra- 

 ted with original photographs showing the different characters 

 of the trees and features of cultivation in the Orient and 

 America. In regard to the presentation of the subject-matter, 

 the style might with advantage have been made more concise, 

 and in places the continual reference to oriental superstitions 

 in regard to the date palm become rather wearisome when 

 one is examining the volume for practical information with 

 which it professes to provide. 



EVAPORATION IN THE CANE AND THE BEET 

 SUGAR FACTORY. By Edward Koppeschaar. London. 

 Norman Rodger. 1914. 



It is stated by the author that the special requirements 

 of those connected with the cane sugar industry in regard to 

 evaporation have been somewhat overlooked by writers on the 

 subject, and an effort has been made in the present volume 

 to discuss the subject in a simpler manner than has hitherto 

 been attempted. The hope is expressed that this will bring 

 the principles of evaporation within the easy reach of 

 a wider circle of those interested. 



The book commences with a study of steam and its 

 application to evaporation in general, and to multiple effect 

 evaporation in particular. The historical development of 

 evaporation in the cane and the beet sugar factory are then 

 discussed, including the introduction of evaporation. This 

 is followed by a comparative study of evaporation in the cane 

 and beet sugar factory. The next chapter deals with 

 multiple effect evaporating apparatus including a design of 

 a 1,200 metric tons plant, beet and cane. After treating the 

 ■subject of the fundamental parts of evaporating^ apparatus 

 the author goes on to consider the control of the apparatus, 

 and concludes with information concerning special designs 

 and an interesting final chapter on evaporation and crystal- 

 lization in vacuum pans. 



Tables of steam, thermometers and the metric system 

 are given at the end of the book. There is no index, but 

 the subject matter is clearly arranged in short paragraphs 

 which should not make reference difficult. The illustrations 

 and diagrams are exceedingly good, and particularly inter- 

 esting are the illustrations of old time sugar mills and factory 

 scenes in Brazil, from which country, it will be remembered, 

 the sugar industry was introduced into the West Indies. 



Three books of some interest in Tropical Agriculture are 

 advertised in Current Literature (February 1911) — All 

 About Coco-nuts, by Messrs. Balfour and Hoyer; A Text 

 Book of Indian Botany, by Liwson adapted by M. Willis; 

 and the Cultivation of the Oil Palm b)' F. M. Millington. 



An article appears in the Louisiana Planter and Sugar 

 Manufacturer (February 14, 1914), which describes with 

 illustrations the central sugar factories in Antigua and 

 St. Kitts. 



