INTRODUCTION OF SAHARAN VARIETIES. 43 



personal attention to the planting and subsequent care of these ofVsho< >t>. 

 shows that of the entire 38 plants set out in the Cooierativr Date 

 Garden at Tempo and at Phoenix, 294 were living, while !o wnv dead. ' 

 These figures show that over 75 per cent of the offshoots have become 

 established. (See Pis. XXI and XXII.) More than so per cent of 

 those sent directly from the Sahara by the new system of packing- 

 lived, but the average was reduced by the plants that had been grown 

 in tubs a year before shipment, of which only about ;>s per cent lived. 

 The offshoots simply packed in straw came through as well as those 

 carefully wrapped about the base with moist moss or packed in char- 

 coal. Inasmuch as only 70 to 75 per cent of the offshoots are expected 

 to live in the Sahara when they are planted in the open without pro- 

 tection, as was done at Tempe, 6 the remarkable record was made of 

 securing the growth of more offshoots in Arizona after a two months' 

 voyage than would be expected to live in the Sahara, and that, too, 

 even with the most inexpensive method of shipment that could be 

 imagined that of simply packing the suckers closely together in dry 

 straw in ordinary wooden cases. 



This experiment has demonstrated the possibility of importing date 

 offshoots from the Sahara and placing them in the deserts of the South- 

 west in practically as good condition as when they were cut off the 

 parent tree. The importance of this experiment is obvious, for it 

 renders it certain that offshoots can be transported to great distances 

 without loss, and makes it possible to undertake the culture of dates 

 on a commercial scale by importing offshoots for planting. Doubtless 

 means will be found to supply the demand for offshoots as soon as it 

 arises b} r importation from the Sahara. In the meantime many of 

 the best sorts of southern Algeria are on trial at Tempe, Ariz., and 

 doubtless some will be found adapted to the climatic conditions there. 



As was previously noted in the paragraph on varieties, it is greatly 

 to be desired that the Deglet Noor and other late sorts be set out as 

 soon as possible in the Salton Basin, in order that there may be a prac- 

 tical demonstration of the suitability of this region for the culture of 

 the choicest sorts of dates. 



THE DATE PALM AS A SHELTER FOB OTHER FRUIT TREES. 



In many parts of the northern Sahara the date palm is almost as 

 important as a shelter and partial shade for other fruit trees as it is for 

 its own fruit. At the time of the Roman occupation of Africa these 

 oases were largely planted to olive trees, some of which, indeed, still 

 remain giant stems perhaps 1,500 years old. It happens that the 



Forbes, K. H. Thirteenth Annual Report, Arizona Experiment Station, 1902, 

 p. 242. 



&Marcassin. L' agriculture dans le Sahara de Constantine. In Annalee de 1'Inst 

 Agronomique, 1895, p. 62 of reprint. 



