TJIK IWJLKT NOOK DATK. 35 



compete with the common dates, but would be used as a choice dessert 

 fruit and for confectionery . 



The Deglet Noor is a very late variety, which requires an enormous 

 amount of heat in order to mature properly. It does not succeed very 

 well at Biskra, and only in the interior of the Sahara, where the sum- 

 mer temperatures are higher, is it of the best quality. The finest 

 Deglet Noor dates are produced in the sunken gardens "ghitan"(fig. 

 8, p. 69) of the Souf country in the Algerian Sahara (see map, PI. II, 

 p. 76), where the heat is doubled by reflection of the sun's rays upon 

 the leaves from the sides and from below, by the sloping sandy sides 

 of the excavations, in the bottom of which the date palms are planted. 

 As is shown in considering the heat requirements of the date palm 

 (pp. 67-69), this sort may not be able to ripen fully in the Salt River 

 Valle}^, Arizona, but it will surety attain the most complete maturity 

 in the Salton Basin and will probably ripen earlier there than in the 

 Sahara, which will allow the dates to be placed on the markets in 

 ample time for Christmas, while in the warmest situations hand- 

 picked dates probably can be shipped for Thanksgiving. The cer- 

 tainty that this choice variety can now be grown in the United States 

 adds a new interest to date culture, and doubtless many progressive 

 fruit growers will soon be planting Deglet Noor date palms, the cul- 

 ture of which gives every promise of being exceedingly profitable (see 

 p. 136). A full-grown Deglet Noor date palm has been variously esti- 

 mated to yield from 40 to 60 kilos (88 to 132 pounds) a year on the 

 average, and certain trees in the sunken gardens of the Souf country 

 in the Sahara yield as much as 330 pounds of fruit. In the Oued Rirh 

 country the yield is irregular and a good crop is said to be followed by a 

 poor one and then by a moderate one, making one good and one medium 

 crop every three years. It has been found by the French companies 

 that of the dates yielded by the Deglet Noor palm about one-fourth 

 are of the first grade, suitable for packing in small wooden boxes (see 

 fig. 5, p. 34, and PL X), holding from 4 to 11 pounds, about one- 

 third are second grade and are packed in the two-third pound oval 

 paper boxes, such as reach our markets, and the remainder, a trifle 

 over one-third, are third-class dates to be sold in bulk. 



Unfortunately the Deglet Noor variety does not produce very many 

 offshoots and does not grow so rapidly as do most of the less valuable 

 sorts. In 1900 the writer secured 87 'offshoots of the Deglet Noor, 

 which were planted at the Cooperative Date Garden at Tempo, Ariz. 

 (See Pis. XXI and XXII). Of these 47 are now alive and growing 

 and in a }^ear or two it will be possible to state with certitude whether 

 this valuable variety will mature in the Salt River Valley. a 



One Deglet Noor palm at Tern pe bloomed in 1902, but did not mature its fruit 

 successfully. (R. H. Forbes, Thirteenth Annual Report, Arizona Experiment Sta- 

 tion, 1902, page 243. ) Several bloomed in 1903, but still no fruit matured. 



