THE DESERTS OF THE OLD 

 WORLD AND THE NEW. 



THE DATE PALM IN THE UNITED STATES. 



BY J. W. TOUMEY, B. S., Tucson, Ariz. 



In the Old World, portions of the great desert belt which extends 

 from India on the East to the Atlantic shores of Morocco on the West, 

 have been under cultivation wherever water has been available for 

 purposes of irrigation, from remote times. 



In the New World, a region comprising Northern Mexico and 

 Southwestern United States, lies in the same general latitude and 

 belongs to the same desert belt. Morever, the meteorological con- 

 ditions prevailing in these two regions are strikingly similar. 



The arid regions of the Old World have long been under culti- 

 vation, but it is only in recent years that the arid regions of South- 

 western United States have seriously claimed the attention of the 

 tiller of the soil. It has, however, been amply demonstrated that 

 wherever water can be obtained in sufficient quantity the soil is very 

 productive. 



In the Old World deserts, the plants grown are either those that 

 are indigenous to the desert.and which have developed into valuable 

 economic plants through many years of cultivation and selection, or 

 they are plants originally indigenous to semi-arid or in a few 

 instances to humid regions, which have developed valuable varieties, 

 capable of withstanding the changed environment, through many 

 years of continuous residence on desert soil. On the other hand, arid 

 America has few indigenous plants that have as yet developed economic 

 forms of much value under cultivation, neither have plants from more 

 humid localities had time to become thoroughly acclimated in the 

 comparatively few years that this region has been under cultivation. 



In the desert regions of America the agriculturist is so remote 

 from similar regions in Africa and Asia that he has not drawn upon 

 them to any extent for the seeds and plants that he has attempted to 

 grow. In most instances he has brought them from his old home in 

 New England or the Middle West and planted them upon desert soil, 

 thinking that he but needs to open the gates at the heads of his 

 canals and laterals and direct the water over his fields, in order to 

 insure a profiable harvest. 



He has overlooked the fact that irrigation will not overcome the 

 excessive heat and dryness of the atmosphere. He has overlooked 



