PREFACE. 



In view of the interest in farming: withont irrigation that is now 

 being manifested in the arid portion of the United States, an acconnt 

 of a region where agricnhure is carried on nnder extremely adverse 

 natural conditions is particularly timely. The present paper deals 

 Avith a highly developed system of date-palm culture in the Oued 

 Souf, a remarkable and little-known part of Ihe Sahara Desert in 

 northern Africa. Strictly speaking, it is not dry-land agriculture 

 with which we have to do in the Souf region, for while the rainfall 

 is practically nothing and irrigation is impracticable, the roots of the 

 trees quickly find their way to ground water. However, it is quite 

 possible that similar conditions may be found to exist in this country 

 in some parts of the desert region of the Southwest, and that the Souf 

 system, with or without irrigation, can be utilized there on a small 

 scale in growing certain orchard crops with a view to forcing fruit 

 to early maturity, so that it can be put upon the market much in ad- 

 vance of the bulk of the crop. 



The Oued Souf was visited by Mr. Kearney at the end of Novem- 

 ber, 1901, the journey having been made from Nefta, in southwestern 

 Tunis, where he had spent several Aveeks in a study of the date palm. 

 This expedition to northern Africa was made under the auspices of 

 the Office of Seed and Plant Introduction and Distribution of the 

 Bureau of Plant Industry. 



Acknowledgment is here made to Captain Bussy, Chef du Bureau 

 Arabe at El Oued, for the cordial assistance rendered by him to Mr. 

 Kearney during the latter's stay in the Souf region. 



A. F. Woods, 

 Pathologist <ind Physiologist. 

 Office of Vegetable Pathological 



AND Physiological Investigations, 



Washingto/i, D. C, August 22, 1905. 



