ESTABLISHMENT OF A NATIONAL BOTANIC GARDEN. 33 



Another important study we are making- is that of the Chinese 

 pear. Ten years ago they dug up some Asiatic pear trees on the 

 grounds of the Department of Agriculture which were in the way of 

 some road. Xobody could foresee the importance of maintaining: 

 these fine Chinese pears. They are indispensable to the modern pear 

 industry, in which there is invested probably $50,000,000 or more, 

 because the pear blight rots the root; we must have the Chinese pear, 

 with a blight-resistant root system, and we must have the right kind 

 of Chinese pear. 



Mr. Moore. Xoav please tell us about the dates. 



Mr. Swingle. About 20 years ago Mr. Fairchild and I and some 

 others were sent to Africa and Asia to investigate the date industry 

 with the view to possibly establishing that industry in the south- 

 western part of the United States. It was found difficult to get in- 

 formation, because, while the Arabs had grown dates for a thousand 

 years, they had kept no records; but after a lot of investigation and 

 hard labor we have within the last 20 years moved the center of the 

 date industry from the Sahara Desert . to California, and we now 

 produce the best dates in the world. 



Senator Knox. How high do date palms grow? 



Mr. Swingle. Seventy-five to 100 feet. 



Mr. Pell. Will they grow in Florida? 



Mr. Swingle. Yes ; but not so well as they do in California. 



Mr. Pell. Are those California dates marketed? 



Mr. Swingle. They are sold in the Pacific coast cities, San Fran- 

 cisco and Los Angeles, but are not yet produced in sufficient quanti- 

 ties to reach the eastern markets, but about $500,000 is being invested 

 annually in the extension of the date industry, in which ultimately 

 between $20,000,000 and $50,000,000 will be invested. In a quarter 

 of a century I look for the date as one of the best and cheapest human 

 foods produced. It has advanced to such a point that we can advise 

 the farmer with absolute certainty that a certain elate will succeed. If 

 an untested variety be planted and it fails to succeed it means a great 

 loss to him, because, if after 8 or 10 years, when the date .begins to 

 bear full crops, it turns out to be the wrong variety, the farmer has to 

 dig it up, and it is a total loss, because the date palm can not be 

 budded or grafted. For this reason it is necessary to study all the 

 principal varieties of dates to learn which ones are suited to our 

 climatic, soil, and market conditions. 



Mr. Johnson. Since these two institutions are under different 

 managements, the Agricultural Department, and the Botanic Gar- 

 den, will there not be a conflict or a duplication of work? 



Mr. Swingle. I do not think so. 



Mr. Johnson. How wilFyou obviate it? 



Mr. Swingle. The only question is to have some place where these 

 many parent trees can be grown. It takes 10 or 15 years for a tree 

 like the Chinese pear to produce fruit in large quantity. 



Mr. Johnson. If the Mount Hamilton tract could be secured for 

 a botanic garden, what authority would the Department of Agricul- 

 ture have to use it? 



Mr. Swingle. The Agriculture Department would merely have 

 cooperative authority, just as we cooperate with the Smithsonian 

 Institution, and many other scientific institutions. The Department 



186037— 20— pt 1 3 



