8 PEESIAN GULF DATES. 



these seedlings were raised came probably from Persian Gulf dates, 

 since these are the most common ones in our markets. The excellence 

 of the fruit from these seedlings and the fact that they ripened early 

 made it seem probable that the Persian Gulf dates, as a class, might 

 prove upon investigation to ripen earlier than those of North Africa, 

 and therefore be better suited to the short, hot seasons in Arizona. 



The stickiness of the dates from Mesopotamia, as sold in this coun- 

 try, is perhaps a disadvantage which they have in comparison with 

 the African sorts, but it was thought that American date firms might 

 not wish to import the best varieties and that there might be found 

 under cultivation along the coast of the Persian Gulf superior earry- 

 ripening sorts of which nothing is now known in the United States. 



The consideration of these possibilities decided Mr. Barbour Lathrop 

 to send the writer up the Persian Gulf to Bagdad to look for the best 

 and earliest varieties of dates and to secure such information regard- 

 ing their culture as might be obtainable. The object of this short 

 bulletin, therefore, is to make available to those interested in date 

 culture the information, more or less fragmentary, which was secured 

 during a brief stay in Bassorah and Bagdad and stops of a few hours 

 at ports on the Persian Gulf. 



GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE REGION. 



The Persian Gulf, like the Red Sea, is a body of unusuallj T salty 

 water, surrounded by stretches of desert sand and barren hills and 

 cliffs. Its waters are shallow and easily and often ruffled by storms, 

 making landing on the shelving beaches sometimes difficult and danger- 

 ous. Its eastern shore is formed by the rocky coast of Persia, while 

 the deserts of Arabia constitute its western coast. The Gulf of Oman 

 is separated from the Persian Gulf by a narrow strait, south of which 

 lies the Sultanate of Maskat, with its dependent province of Guadur 

 on the opposite side of the gulf. 



The Shat-el-Arab River is formed by the union of the Tigris and 

 Euphrates at Kurna, where, according to the Arabs, the garden of 

 Eden was located. It flows south for 70 miles and empties into the 

 northern end of the Gulf of Persia, forming a shallow bar which must 

 be crossed at flood tide by even shallow-draft vessels. 



The Persian Gulf is politically controlled by Great Britain, whose 

 officials settle petty intertribal disputes between the natives and push 

 the interests of British trade by increasing the communication facilities 

 of the waterways. Turkey nominally governs Arabia, but practically 

 controls little territory south of the Shat-el-Arab River, while the Shah 

 of Persia has jurisdiction over the whole eastern coast of the gulf, 

 and the Sultan of Maskat, under the eye of Great Britain, manages 

 the affairs of his Sultanate and of his dependency of Guadur. 



