CHAPTER II. 



SOIL AND CLIMATE. 



13. The date-palm appears to grow and produce fruit 

 Soils almost equally well on sandy, loamy, or clayey 



soils. The soils of the Punjab plains are alluvial 

 varying from light sands to stiff clays, and often contain a large 

 percentage of lime. The soils of the famous date-growing oases 

 in the Libyan desert are alluvial, contain much lime, being derived 

 from the limestone cliffs around them, and vary in physical 

 character from free sands to stiff clays. Most date-growing 

 soils are of this general nature. 



The physical character of the soil appears to have little 

 influence on the plant, except that the flowers and fruit may be 

 a little earlier on sandy lands. The soils of the Saharan oases 

 are mostly of a sandy nature ; those of the Mesopotamian tract 

 and in Egypt are mostly of very dense clays, while some of the 

 date groves on the coast of Egypt are growing on almost pure 

 sand. On the whole, sandy loams are best suited for date cultiva- 

 tion. A plantation of young off-shoots is much more easily 

 started on a sandy loam than on other soils (see page 81, para 43). 

 Practically any soil on which ordinary farm crops can be grown 

 is suitable for the date-palm. 



14. After investigations by the Department of Agriculture, 



United States of America, on the soils of the 

 Re tfk a aT t0 Algerian date-palm tracts, W. T. Swingle states 



that " although this plant can grow in soils 

 containing 3 to 4 per cent, of their weights of alkali, it does not 

 produce fruits unless its roots reach a stratum of soil where the 

 alkali content is below 1 per cent., and does not yield regular and 

 abundant crops unless there are layers in the soil with less than 

 0'6 per cent, of alkali." The alkali referred to is white alkali 



