THE DATE PALM COUNTRY 39 



subsidiary crop is to be grown between the palms, 

 one must not fail to make allowance for the additional 

 supply of water needed. And this supply will have 

 to be an absolute minimum, for the palm naturally 

 demands most water in midsummer, when the water 

 supply is probably at the lowest point it reaches 

 during the year. 



Cold water is a disadvantage, and warm water 

 a corresponding advantage. The superlative Khal- 

 aseh of Hasa is irrigated by hot springs, and the first 

 dates which arrive on the market of Masqat (about 

 May 15) are from plantations around hot springs. 

 The water of wells in the southwestern United States 

 is ordinarily warm enough to be satisfactory. In 

 Samail Valley and other parts of Oman the water is, 

 in effect, artificially warmed, by passing through 

 cement conduits several miles long, in the hot, open 

 beds of the dry watercourses. 



It is worthy of remark that most Arab date 

 plantations get practically no cultivation, and that 

 if the surface of the ground were kept in a condition 

 to retain moisture, a less amount of water would un- 

 doubtedly give the same results. But in a dry climate 

 like that of Coachella Valley there is already enough 

 diflaculty in keeping choice, soft dates like Deglet Nur 

 from shriveling or mummifying as they ripen, and 

 anyone who embarks in date culture without making 

 sure that he has a liberal supply of water — not much 

 less than an inch to the acre — and without making 

 sure that this supply will be permanent and not 

 subject to diminution during the hottest months of 

 the year, is only inviting failure. 



