THE DATE 203 



Humidity is an important factor with many varieties. Dates 

 coming from the Sahara usually demand a dry climate; yet 

 the Coachella Valley in California has sometimes proved too 

 dry, and the fruit has shriveled on the tree unless irrigation 

 was given while it was ripening. Persian Gulf and Egyptian 

 varieties will endure more humidity, since they come from the 

 seacoast or near it. Dew at night or rain coming late in the 

 season when the dates are softening is almost ruinous to the 

 crop, for which reason dates cannot be produced satisfactorily 

 in some parts of Arizona. In regions of India where the summer 

 rains begin in July, it has been possible to bring dates to maturity 

 before the rains arrive. 



In general, the best varieties require : (1) a long summer, 

 hot at night as well as in the daytime ; (2) a mild winter, with 

 no more than an occasional frost ; (3) absence of rain in spring 

 when the fruit is setting; and (4) absence of rain or dew in 

 the fall when the fruit is ripening. In regions lacking any of 

 these characteristics, date-growing will be profitable commer- 

 cially only if special care is taken to secure suitable varieties 

 and to develop, by experiment, proper methods of handling 

 them. 



Date palms grow well in the stiff clays of the Tigris-Euphrates 

 delta, in the adobe soils of Egypt, in the sand of Algeria, and in 

 the sandy loam of Oman and of California. No one type of 

 soil can be asserted to be necessary. Thorough drainage and 

 aeration of the soil are desirable, but even in these regards the 

 palm will stand considerable abuse, and is found to grow fairly 

 well in places where the ground-water level is comparatively 

 near the surface. Naturally, however, the palm responds to 

 good treatment as do other plants. On the whole, it is probably 

 best suited on a well-drained sandy loam. 



The palm's tolerance of alkali has been noted from very early 

 times, and has led Arab writers to believe that it throve best in 

 alkaline soil. This is unlikely. Dates can indeed be grown 



