ALKALI CONDITIONS AT PALM CANYON. 



Ill 



In the northern part of the Salton Basin around Indio and Walters, 

 Cal., there are flowing artesian wells; in this and in many other 

 respects the conditions of the Oued Rirh region in the Sahara are 

 almost exactly reproduced. It is probable that date culture will prove 

 even more profitable here than in the Oued Rirh country, since the 

 summers are hotter in the Salton Basin, which will insure that the 

 Deglet Noor variety will mature its fruit completely every year. The 

 soils of this part of the Salton Basin have not yet been studied with 

 reference to their alkali content, but it is known that there are large 

 areas of land which could be irrigated by artesian wells where there 

 is so much alkali that the growing of ordinary crops is prevented. a 

 On such areas the culture of the date palm is likely to be the only 

 paying industry that can be followed. 



ALKALI CONDITIONS AT PALM CANYON, IN THE FOOTHILLS BORDERING THE SALTON BASIN. 



The California fan palm (Neowashingtonia filifera) grows wild in the 

 foothills surrounding the Salton Basin wherever the soil is sufficiently 

 moist. In some respects the fan palm is much like the date palm, for 

 it needs a constant supply of water at the roots, it delights in hot, dry 

 weather, and can resist a large amount of alkali. An old fan palm 

 produces in a good season from 50 to 200 pounds of fruit, according 

 to Dr. Welwood Murray. The fruit is very small, of a pleasant flavor, 

 and it is not unlike a miniature date. Natural groves of these palms 

 as they occur in the foothills to the north of Indio are shown on 

 Plate XIX, figures 3 and 4. 6 



Dr. Welwood Murray has kindly collected a series of soil samples 

 in the groves at Palm Canyon, near Palm Springs, Cal. These 

 samples were analyzed through the kindness of Prof. Milton Whitney, 

 chief of the Bureau of Soils, and the results are given herewith, cal- 

 culated in the same way as for the soil samples from the Sahara. 



TABLE 41. Per cent of alkali in soils in which California fan palms were growing at Palm 



Canyon, California. 



Recently J. Garnett Holmes, of the Bureau of Soils, United States Department of 

 Agriculture, has surveyed this area, and his report will soon be published. 



& See also Plates XXV and XXVI, in Coville and MacDougal, Desert Botanical 

 Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution. Plate XXVI in particular gives an excellent 

 idea of the appearance of the fan-palm oases as seen from a distance. 



