178 DATEGROWING 



far as the immediately succeeding years are concerned. 

 Those who get into the date industry at once in the 

 right way can make profits that, for a few years at 

 least, will be extraordinary. 



Others consider that the expense of running a 

 plantation will be so great that the profits will be 

 much less than my figures. I readily agree that this 

 may be the case with some plantations, for poor 

 managers are to be found in any business, and some 

 men cannot make a success of any walk of life. But 

 knowing as I do that date growing requires less trouble 

 than most other industries, and believing that the 

 expense of producing dates will be less than that of 

 raising almost any other subtropical fruit, I believe that 

 the cost of keeping up a plantation will be reasonably 

 small. I shall discuss this question in more detail 

 later, but I want first to speak of the probable prices 

 of dates in the United States, since that is a main factor 

 on which the amount of profit depends. 



At present, imported Busreh dates, very badly 

 packed, rarely sell at less than ten cents a pound in 

 the United States, while better packed ones, and 

 Fardh dates, (which are popular because they are firm 

 enough to keep their shape, although in flavor they are 

 second rate) sell at fifteen or twenty cents a pound. 

 The importers could cut this price and still make a 

 good profit, for Persian Gulf dates can be laid down in 

 New York at less than five cents a pound. But I 

 doubt if they can improve the packing to a marked 

 degree, and that is as important as the price. Further- 

 more, they cannot get these dates on the market 

 before the latter half of October, and dates of a similar 

 grade grown in the southwestern States can be put 

 on the market a month or two earlier than that, 



