290 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



now ^r^<l^^'1^ir in (lie five cooperative date <>;ardens of the Department 

 of Agriculture in Texas, Arizona, and California. A scientific 

 study of the climatic, soil, and cultural requirements of the different 

 date varieties is important in the establishment of this new industry, 

 for the reason that the date pahn, unlike all ordinary fruit crops, is 

 produced by plants which can not be budded or grafted. If an 

 orchard is set to an inferior variety it is a total loss, since the trees 

 must be grubbed up and new ones planted. A date orchard is one 

 of the most expensive to plant and bring to bearing, because the off- 

 shoots must be imported from the deserts of the Old World at a net 

 cost to the grower of $3 to $6 each. It is important, therefore, to be 

 able to recommend to the growers varieties which are adapted to their 

 local conditions. Every effort has been made to discourage the pre- 

 mature exploitation of date culture and to test thoroughly at sta- 

 tions under the control of the Federal and State governments all 

 obtainable varieties. 



In order to familiarize growers with the handling of date palms 

 and in the hope of originating new varieties particularly well 

 adapted to local conditions, large quantities of seeds of the best 

 varieties have been distributed to cooperators in the date-garden 

 regions of California, Arizona, and Texas. The cooperators receive 

 the seed free of cost and upon planting out the seedlings in orchard 

 form receive from the cooperative date gardens under the control of 

 this Department a quota of offshoots of imported varieties as a bonus 

 for such planting. In this way the date growers become accus- 

 tomed to the proper methods of planting and cultivating imported 

 date offshoots and learn how^ to pollinate and harvest the crop. 



COOPERATR'E AVORK ON THE InDIAN RESERVATIONS. — In COOpcration 



■with the Office of Indian Affairs of the Department of the Interior, 

 investigations are being conducted on several of the Indian reserva- 

 tions in the Southwest looking toward the establishment of new agri- 

 cultural industries particularly adapted to the local soil, climatic, and 

 labor conditions. The Office of Crop Physiology and Breeding 

 utilizes these cooperative testing and demonstration gardens in the 

 study of the climatic, soil, and cultural requirements of different 

 varieties of crop plants and in the breeding of new sorts better 

 adapted to the local conditions. Indian labor is utilized in the car- 

 rjnng out of these experiments, thus familiarizing the Indians wdth 

 the growing of new crops. These investigations are likel}'^ to prove 

 of value, not only to the Indians, but to the white settlers in lands 

 adjoining the reservations. This particularly applies to Egyptian 

 cotton, which has been grown at Sacaton, Ariz., on a considerable 

 scale during the past two years in cooperation with other offices of the 

 Bureau. The crops raised on the testing and demonstration farm 

 during the years 1908 and 1909 were recently sold by the Office of 

 Indian Affairs at the unusual price of 31 cents a pound. Egyptian- 

 cotton culture on a small scale is likeh^ to be profitable for the In- 

 dians themselves, and the Indian boys and women are at the same 

 time acquiring a training in the picking and handling of the crop 

 which can be turned to good account should the growing of Egj^ptian 

 cotton be undertaken on any considerable scale in Arizona and 

 California, 



