MEXICAN COMPETITION IN DATE CULTURE. 135 



of the United States boundary, where the climate is not very unlike 

 that of the hot valleys of Arizona. There are extensive date planta- 

 tions in Lower California, especially in the central part of the penin- 

 sula, and considerable quantities of dates, packed in rawhide bags, are 

 shipped from here to the cities of Mexico, and some even as far as 

 Arizona and California. According to the statistics published by the 

 Mexican Government, Lower California produced 137,300 kilograms 

 (about 300,000 pounds) of dates in 1897, worth 10,845 Mexican dollars. 

 In 1898 the production amounted only to 32,485 kilograms. 



It might be supposed that northwestern Mexico would be better 

 adapted for growing dates than the Southwestern States, since date 

 culture in Sonora and Lower California has long ago passed the 

 experimental stage ?nd is a well-established industry. Furthermore, 

 in these regions there is no danger of young palms being injured by 

 winter cold, while from the latitude, some 5 degrees south of the 

 Salton Basin, the summer heat might be expected to exceed that of the 

 hottest deserts of California and Arizona. As a matter of fact, how- 

 ever, the absence of high mountain ranges and the proximity to the 

 Pacific Ocean and to the Gulf of California permit the sea winds to 

 sweep more or less freely over this whole region, thereby so reducing 

 the temperature and increasing the humidity that late sorts of dates 

 almost everywhere fail to mature on the tree and must be ripened 

 artificially. 



Nowhere in Mexico is there any region comparable to the Salton Basin, 

 in California, a depression below the sea level, surrounded on two sides 

 by high mountain ranges which form an effective barrier to the cold, 

 humid winds from the ocean. b Adding to these climatic advantages, 

 the abundance and cheapness of the water supply, and the greater prox- 

 imity to markets, it becomes evident that American growers of first- 

 class dates have no need to fear Mexican competition. Even the 

 growers of second-class and ordinary dates have little cause for alarm, 

 for everywhere in Mexico date culture is carried on in the most primi- 

 tive manner, seedlings being everywhere grown and the propagation of 

 superior varieties by offshoots nearly or quite unknown. At present 

 the inferior and badly packed seedling dates produced in Mexico are 

 the poorest that reach our markets, and are of no importance what- 

 ever. 



By exposure to the sun during the hot part of the day and storing indoors wrapped 

 up in blankets at night. (Observations of Prof. R. H. Forbes in Lower California, 

 communicated verbally to the writer, 1902. See p. 29. ) 



& Except possibly Maquata Basin, a region below sea level around the Laguna 

 Maquata (see fig. 10, p. 102) , in Lower California, just south of the boundary line, which 

 may some day rival the Salton Basin as a date-producing region, as it can be irrigated 

 from the Hardy River and is protected by mountain ranges on nearly all sides. It 

 would be very desirable to explore more fully this interesting region, which, though 

 adjoining our boundary, is one of the least known areas in North America. 



