THE DATE PALM COUNTRY 29 



can be grown there, but at present commercial 

 planting is checked because of quarantine restrictions 

 on imported date palms, and these restrictions are 

 likely to prevent development in any rapid manner. 

 In the meantime one could make a start by selecting 

 some very early seedling in Southern California and 

 establishing its offshoots in a warm part of the interior 

 valley. When imported offshoots can be introduced 

 into the central counties, early sorts from the Persian 

 Gulf would give every promise of success. There 

 seems no reason why this section of California should 

 not become eventually a large producer of dates. 



Finally, there is a small district in Texas, around 

 Laredo, where encouraging experiments have been 

 made by the Department of Agriculture of the federal 

 government. This is evidently a region adapted to 

 producing dates, and it completes the list of best 

 United States locations for date growers. Most of 

 the land in the southwest, which is amply hot and 

 dry in summer, is too cold in winter. 



In Mexico there is undoubtedly a large amount of 

 land which is well adapted to the culture, just across 

 the Une from the California border. Conditions here 

 are much the same as in Imperial and Coachella 

 Valleys to the north. The date palm is a well estab- 

 lished industry around the Gulf of Cahfornia, where 

 conditions are not desert-like, particularly because of 

 the ocean breezes and consequent humidity. Dates 

 do not ripen well, but it is entirely possible that 

 suitable varieties could be found which would make 

 the culture a paying one there. Probably some parts 

 of the plateau in Mexico also are adapted to the 

 industry. 



The idea, however, that the palm could fruit 



