DATE CULTUKE IN NEW MEXICO. 133 



of the Colorado River Valley. In addition, the varieties from the 

 island of Djerba, off the coast of Tunis, where only early sorts can 

 mature, as well as the many- early kinds reported from the Tunisian 

 Sahara, should be secured for trial. Possibly other sorts of value 

 could be found among the multitudes of seedling date palms growing 

 in the valleys of the Indus and its tributaries in the Punjab, in India. 

 On the higher lands along the valley of the Colorado the conditions 

 are very different from those described above, for, lying above the 

 flood-plain, these lands are not subject to annual overflow and con- 

 sequently there is no lowering of the summer temperature by the cold 

 flood waters. The meteorological records kept at Yuma, Ariz., near 

 the Mexican boundary, and at Needles, Cal., near the Nevada bound- 

 ary, indicate that midseason and even late sorts, including possibly 

 the Deglet Noor, may be expected to mature fully in this region. a So 

 there is a good prospect for successful date culture wherever it is 

 possible to irrigate the land. 



NEW MEXICO. 



All of New Mexico is over 2,500 feet above the sea level, and nine- 

 tenths of its area is above 4,000 feet in altitude. In consequence the 

 winters are almost everywhere too cold to permit the culture of any 

 but hard}^ sorts of the date palm, and- the summer heat is inadequate to 

 ripen any but the earliest varieties. The winters are much too cold for 

 the date palm in the principal irrigated regions, the valleys of the Rio 

 Grande and the Pecos rivers, where this plant would be very useful 

 for planting on alkali lands. From a study of the meteorological rec- 

 ords, it would seem that La Paz, at 4,836 feet altitude, in south central 

 New Mexico, near the Sacramento Mountains, has the most promising 

 climate for date culture. The next best climatic region is found in 

 the vallej^s of the Gila and Rio Mimbres, in the southwestern corner 

 of the Territory. This latter region is of considerable extent, but 

 unfortunately the winters are usually so cold that young palms would 

 be injured if not protected. During the cold wave of 1899 the tem- 

 perature fell below 7 F. at all the stations where records are kept, 

 except at Gage, altitude 4,480 feet, where the record shows a minimum 

 temperature of only 16 F. 



Very early sorts of date palms capable of withstanding much cold 

 are needed for trial in New Mexico. Such sorts are most likely to be 

 found in the oases of Persia, especially in those which from their high 

 altitude or northern position have a very cold winter climate. The 

 northern Sahara, though it contains early varieties suitable for culture 

 in the interior valley region in California and in the Colorado River 



Prof. R. H. Forbes is strongly of the opinion that the Deglet Noor date will ripen 

 in the Colorado River Valley about Mellen and Fort Mohave, Ariz., where the 

 climate is exceptionally hot. (Letter to the author, dated Tucson, March 1, 1904.) 



