402 ANNUAL RFT-ORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



A matter of much importance is the fact that Indian labor can be 

 trained to pick the cotton in a satisfactory manner, so tliat wliile the 

 women and children pick the cotton on the home plantations the men 

 and boys make efficient helpers for the white settlers in the Salt River 

 Valley, where approximatel}^ 1,000 acres of cotton were this year 

 thrown. A considerable portion of the time of the foreman of tlie 

 feacaton station has been devoted to the supervision of these plant- 

 ings under the general direction of the committee on Egyptian cot- 

 ton culture composed of those officers in the bureau whose work 

 relates to this subject. 



An important development of the work on the Gila River Indian 

 Reservation has been the satisfactory results of the experiments in 

 controlling alkali. The application of proper cultural methods has 

 demonstrated that pumped water, heretofore considered unsatisfac- 

 tory and believed to cause rapid and certain deterioration of the land, 

 is perfectly suitable for ordinan^ fruit and field crops. 



Experiments have been continued in the growing and testing of 

 other crops likely to prove of value. An important new industry 

 has been created in the Rowing of disease-free Bermuda onions, 

 while experimental plantings of the date palm, fig, pistache, and 

 pecan have attracted the attention of the settlers. 



Date culture. — The introduction of date culture on a commercial 

 scale in the United States is now practically an assured fact. Some- 

 where between $50,000 and $100,000 have been invested in the in- 

 dustry by private parties during the past j^ear, and at least three 

 private expeditions have been sent abroad for offshoots of known 

 varieties. 



The department has cooperative date gardens in Texas, Arizona, 

 and California — six in all — where the best varieties of the Old World 

 are being tested. Private growers are being encouraged to engage 

 in date culture and are assisted in evei'y possible Avay in the manage- 

 ment of this unfamiliar enterprise, which shows promise of being 

 profitable in the Southwest. 



The success of date culture in this country will be due largely to the 

 discovery of a special method for the artificial ripening of the fruit, 

 whereby the choicest varieties of late dates, such as the famous Deglet 

 Noor, may be ripened, even in unfavorable seasons, wherever the 

 dates grow to maturity on the trees. Under this method, dates equal 

 to the best imported from northern Africa are now produced. 



Some half-million date seeds have been planted in the South- 

 western States during the past few years, most of them through a 

 cooperative arrangement with the department. Many promising new 

 varieties thus originated require the development of methods for 

 their rapid propagation. These methods may also be applied to rare 

 and valuable varieties from the Old World. Experiments to this end 

 are now under way at Indio, CaJ. 



Smyrna fig culture. — The culture of the best sorts of Smyrna figs 

 has been brought to a very satisfactory state. A seedling fig orchard 

 has been leased at Loomis, Cal., and choice varieties of caprifigs 

 (necessary for making the fruit set) have been distributed free to 

 growers under condition that they test a designated number of seed- 

 ling figs for each caprifig received. 



