4 CIRCULAK NO. 12'J, BUREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY. 



while tlic otlicr with identical soil and climatic conditions is run at 

 a loss to the owner. IIow much more is this likely to be the case 

 in growing the date pahn, which, unhke the orange, is a new crop 

 plant and only unpcrfectly understood. 



In particular, many nonresident owners or stock companies are at 

 present very poorly equipped to carry on this industry with any 

 certainty of success, since there are only a few competent managers 

 to be had who understand date culture and who are able to endure 

 the tr3^ing summer clunate of the date-growing regions. It must be 

 remembered that the planting of untested varieties is a very risky 

 matter. The date palm, unlike aU other commonly grown fruit 

 trees, can not be budiled or grafted, and if by any chance the va- 

 riety planted proves to be not adapted to the soil or climate there 

 is no remedy but to dig up the trees and either seU them at a sac- 

 rifice or, more probably, destroy them outright. 



Wlien we remember that offshoots of good varieties cost from five 

 to ten tmies as much as grafted plants of other fruit trees and that 

 to establish them in the field amounts to the rooting of a cutting 

 in open ground, which is a very costly operation requiring great 

 skill and the most scrupulous attention, we realize that to bring 

 date palms into bearing costs very much more per acre than to grow 

 any other orchard crop. 



It is then obvious that growers who have only a limited capital to 

 invest can scarcely afford to experiment with untested varieties. 

 It is not enough that the varieties should be valualile in their native 

 country, and it is not even enough that they should fruit successfully 

 in tliis country. It must be proved that their culture can be carried 

 on commercially with a reasonable certainty of success. Many 

 otherwise desirable date varieties do not cure well, and consequently 

 are hard to market. Each date variety must be studied most care- 

 fully over a term of years before its culture on a commercial scale 

 can be recommended. 



At i)resent less than a dozen varieties among the 200 or more on 

 trial at the Government date gardens in the Southwest can be said 

 to be well enough known to warrant planting on a commercial scale. 

 The Dedet Noor and the Tazizaoot can be recommended for orchard 

 planting in the Coachella and Imperial Valleys of California; the 

 Ilalawi, the Khadrawi, the Maktum, and the Birket el Hadji are 

 promising for cooler regions, such as the Salt River Valley of Arizona, 

 and may be planted in the CaUfornia date regions on a scale not too 

 large for the early markets; the Rhars is excellent for home use as a 

 fresh date, but is of little commercial value; the Theory^ is a diy 



1 There are at least two distinct dates known by this name m Algeria, and only one, apparently the 

 more uncommon one, is promising. 

 [Cir. 12<J] 



