134 THE DATE PALM. 



flood plain, where the winters are comparatively mild, is unlikely to 

 yield sorts suitable for New Mexico or for the plateau region of Cali- 

 fornia, where hardiness is indispensable, for the reason that in the 

 northern Sahara, even in oases lying at high altitudes, the winter cli- 

 mate is comparatively mild and equable. 



TEXAS. 



Only the extreme southwestern part of Texas, bordering the Rio 

 Grande from the mouth of the Pecos River to near Brownsville, is 

 adapted to the culture of the date palm. Throughout the eastern half 

 of the State and in a strip along the Gulf coast, down to the Mexican 

 boundary, the climate is too humid and the summers are too cool to 

 ripen the fruit properly, while in all the northern part of the State, 

 above San Antonio (latitude 30 north), the winters are too cold to 

 permit the date palm to grow out of doors without protection. In the 

 region lying south and west of San Antonio, between the humid Gulf 

 coast and the Rio Grande, the summers are hot enough to mature 

 even the medium or late varieties of dates. Fort Mclntosh, in Webb 

 County, at 460 feet altitude, has a summer temperature somewhat 

 higher for the months from May to September, inclusive, than at 

 Phoenix, Ariz. The rainfall averages in this region only about 10 

 inches, and the late summer is usually dry enough to permit dates 

 to ripen; irrigation would usualty be necessary. Ordinarily the 

 winters are not severe enough to injure the date palm if protected 

 when young, though this part of the State is occasionally exposed to 

 u northers," during which the temperature sometimes falls very low. 

 In February, 1899, for example, it fell to 7 F. or below all over the 

 region where the date could be grown, and this temperature would 

 doubtless injure or kill even old date palms. Such low temperatures 

 are, however, very exceptional, and the date should be tested in this 

 part of Texas wherever water can be obtained for irrigation. 



Midseason and late varieties, resistant to winter cold, which are 

 needed here and in southern Nevada, are most likely to be found in 

 the depressions in the Persian plateau, where the summer heat is 

 intense and, at the same time, the winters are rigorous. There is 

 much less chance of finding hardy sorts in the Sahara, where the win- 

 ters are mild, especially in low altitudes, where alone there is sufficient 

 summer heat to ripen late varieties. 



NO DANGER FROM MEXICAN COMPETITION IN DATE CULTURE. 



The date palm was introduced into Mexico soon after the conquest, 

 probably by means of seeds brought from Spain by the missionaries. 

 Some of the palms in Sonora and Lower California are very old and 

 have reached great height. A group of such old trees is shown in the 

 frontispiece. They were growing at Hermosillo, only 150 miles south 



