210 HORTICULTURAL MANUAL. 



spring it again takes up growth and fruitage in a way that 

 no Northern tree can equal. If desirable, the culture of 

 the fig without winter protection can be extended farther 

 north by importing the varieties grown on the 40th parallel 

 in Turkestan. Dn Albert Eegel says : ' ' The culture of 

 the fig begins at the foot of western Karatan and the 

 culture of the best varieties crosses the Hindoo Kush in 

 a southern direction. But in Darvas the hardy figs form 

 high shrubs, with a stem thicker than one's arm, which 

 require no protection. The fruit is small and is used 

 fresh. The drying and pressing of figs commercially is 

 practised in more western districts of Turkestan./' At the 

 fair at Nishni Novgorod, figs of fair size and good quality 

 were shown grown as far north as Bokhara in central Asia. 

 These varieties probably could be grown up to the 40th 

 parallel in the prairie States. 



It should be added that the fig grows readily from hard- 

 wood cuttings like the grape. 



208. The Date Palm. This is truly a child of the 

 desert, and its delicious fruit only seems to reach perfec- 

 tion in climates with desert-like conditions as to heat and 

 aridity of air. The tree is grown in California, on our 

 gulf coast, and in Cuba. In these relatively moist climates 

 it is a handsome palm, but its fruit rarely reaches perfec- 

 tion. 



In the dry, hot valleys of the Salt and Gila rivers in 

 Arizona, the old mission trees seem perfect, and the writer 

 has picked, from bunches weighing forty pounds, as large 

 and delicious fruit as has been tested in central Asia; In 

 Sonora, Mexico, east of the coast range of mountains, the 

 date is also a success in the way of bearing annual crops of 

 good fruit. In these sections the planting of date-trees is 

 rapidly on the increase. 



The old trees, bearing at from eight to twelve years old 



