PART FIVE: SEMI-TROPICAL FRUITS 

 CHAPTER XXIX 



DATE CULTURE IN OUR DESERT AREAS 



Ever since the arid, semitropical regions of the United States 

 became known through the narratives of explorers, the date palm 

 (Phoenix dactylifera) has been projected as a plant likely to 

 demonstrate commercial value in America like that which it has 

 held for centuries in the arid regions of Asia and Africa. This 

 idea was also cherished even at an earlier date by the Spanish 

 missionaries who brought the palm to California, as will be 

 described presently. During the last decade the problem of intro- 

 ducing and establishing a date-growing industry has been taken 

 up more seriously and systematically than ever before and must 

 now be looked upon as approaching successful solution. As, how- 

 ever, the undertaking is still in an experimental stage and appeals 

 to relatively few people as a line of investment, no attempt will 

 be made to discuss the date in detail. Instead, citation will be 

 made of sources whence the reader who desires them can easily 

 secure information of date-growing methods in the old countries, 

 discussion of their suitability to our conditions and suggestions 

 of ways to enter upon date-growing in California.* 



The date palm was brought to California by the padres, and 

 the oldest date trees in the State are the survivors of their early 

 plantings. Such trees are found at the San Diego Mission. They 

 are conjectured to be more than a century old, and they 

 have survived drought and neglect, making unsuccessful effort 

 at fruiting, for, according to common report, the fruit does 

 not ripen, but whether owing to the unfavorable conditions indi- 

 cated, or to lack of fertilization of the bloom, is not known. 

 There are trees at Ventura,, on the site of the garden of the old 

 mission of San Buena Ventura, about forty feet in height and 

 ten feet in circumference at the base, with long, graceful, fern- 

 like leaves, which put forth about thirty feet from the ground. 



* The Date Palm and its Utilization in the Southwestern States, by Walter T. 

 Swingle, Bulletin 53, Bureau of Plant Industry, U. S. Dept. of Agr., Washington, 1904. 



Date Varieties and Date Culture in Tunis, by T. H. Kearney, Bulletin 92, Ibid, 

 1906. 



Date Growing in Southern California, by S. C. Mason. Report of Riverside 

 Fruit Growers' Convention, State Horticultural Commissioner, Sacramento, 1908. 



377 



