74 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Date culture. — The successful ripening at the Department gar- 

 dens in Arizona and Cahfornia of many of the best types of dates has 

 led to a greatly increased interest in the possibilities of commercial 

 date culture in this country. Because of the great cost of estabUsh- 

 ing a date orchard the Department has followed the poHcy of intro- 

 ducing and testing at its own gardens in advance of general distribu- 

 tion the best varieties of dates from the Old- World deserts, so that 

 growers may be accurately advised as to the varieties most likely to 

 succeed in specific locaUties. At the same time, in order to famiHarize 

 growers with the cultivation and care of the trees and the harvesting 

 of the fruit, many thousands of seeds of the best varieties of dates 

 have been distributed. New methods of propagation are being 

 worked out to permit of the rapid dissemination of these new vari- 

 eties in the regions to wliich they are adapted. 



Fig CULTURE. — The United States now produces annually only 

 about 200 tons of Smyrna figs, while 2,000 tons of that type are 

 imported. 



The finest types of the Smyrna fig are produced in the Meander 

 Valley in Asia IMinor. Investigations have sho-wTi that in Cahfornia 

 the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains bordering on the San 

 Joaquin and Sacramento valleys on the east form just such a region 

 as the Meander Valley, though vastly larger in extent. It is con- 

 fidently beheved that somewhere in tliis warm foothill belt \nll be 

 found the best fig region in this country. In order to demonstrate 

 tliis at as early a date as possible, the Department leased a seedHng- 

 fig orchard at Loomis, Cal., situated some 400 feet above the valley 

 floor. This orchard was planted some twenty-five years ago with 

 seed of the best Smyrna figs. About half of the seedHngs produced 

 there are good edible varieties, the other half being caprifigs. From 

 this collection the Department has distributed to growers in the foot- 

 hills and cool coastal valleys a special collection of Smyrna figs, with 

 appropriate caprifigs. It is beheved that wdthin three years it will 

 be possible to determine definitely the locaHties best suited to the 

 production of figs of the liighest quahty. 



STUDIES IN BLUEBERRY CULTURE. 



In the annual reports for 1908 and 1909 reference was made to 

 experiments on the domestication of the blueberry. A publication 

 has since been issued describing the principles of culture of these 

 peculiar plants and showing the reasons for failure in most of the 

 early attempts to grow them. The propagation of selected plants 

 by cuttings and other methods has also been accomplished, and 

 there is every prospect that effective methods of field culture wdll 

 be developed and that selected varieties having fruits of large size 



