880 
for dessert in European countries con- 
tains more than half its weight of sugar, 
six per cent of albumen, and 12 per cent 
of gummy matter. 
Encyclopedia Britannica 
The Date Palm in the United States 
The date was early introduced into 
America by the Spanish. The history 
and present status of the date palm in 
the United States has been made a sub- 
ject of study by the Arizona station. The 
following statements are taken mainly 
from a bulletin of that station. The 
palm followed the progress of Catholic 
missions from St. Augustine to Mexico, 
New Mexico, Arizona and California, 
where it is now grown in the open 
ground as an ornament “as far north as 
San Francisco. The tree will, however, 
produce fruit only over a much more 
limited area. It is not yet grown on a 
commercial scale anywhere within the 
United States, though occasional seedlings 
are found in the desert regions of South- 
ern New Mexico, Arizona, and South- 
eastern California, which produce fruit 
of excellent quality. 
The greatest impulse was given to date 
growing in this country by the importa- 
tion by the Division of Pomology of this 
Department of rooted suckers supposed 
to have been taken from female trees 
known to produce fruit of excellent qual- 
ity. These were distributed and planted 
in Las Cruces, N. M.; Phenix and 
Yuma, Ariz.; Indio, Pomona, Tulare, and 
National City, Cal. Of the trees thus 
planted it appears that 39 are now living, 
of which 15 have blossomed, seven of 
them being pistillate or fruit-bearing 
plants. It may be two or three years 
before their true fruit qualities can be 
ascertained. 
The regions in which the date palm 
thrives are characterized by deficiency of 
rain and wide variations of temperature. 
The summer heat is intense, reaching 
115° or more, though in winter the ther- 
mometer may fall as low as 16° below 
freezing. These climatic conditions are 
practically identical with those that ob- 
tain in the more southerly portions of 
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE 
the great Colorado desert. So great is 
the similarity in fact that, so far as cli- 
mate is concerned, we may reasonably 
expect the date palm to fruit satisfac- 
torily in the arid regions of our South- 
west. Although the date palm requires 
exceptionally intense heat in summer, it 
will withstand in winter a temperature 
that would be fatal to the fig or orange. 
Probably the soil best adapted to the 
date palm is one containing a small per- 
centage of clay, fairly free from humus, 
and charged with alkali. Irrigation and 
heat are the all-important considerations. 
Water is indispensable. The roots should 
be moist at all times. “The date must 
have its head in the fire and its roots in 
the water” is an old Arabian proverb. 
The water should be applied frequently 
throughout the year, the most in the 
spring before blooming and in the fall 
prior to ripening of the fruit. Care 
should be taken not to irrigate too much 
at the time of blooming and just after, 
as this is liable to interfere with success- 
ful fruit setting. The water may advan- 
tageously be quite warm, from 75° to 95°, 
and contain considerable alkali. In mid- 
summer irrigation should be in the late 
afternoon or evening to avoid scalding. 
Palms may be planted along streams or 
flooded basins. All desert regions are 
characterized by occasional depressions 
where the water comes nearly or quite 
to the surface. During the rainy season 
these are filled with water and some- 
times do not become entirely dry before 
another rainy season. The date palm 
thrives in such spots when once estab- 
lished, although its trunk may be par- 
tially submerged for some time. Where 
irrigation is practiced, however, water 
should not be allowed to rise above the 
surface of the soil for any considerable 
length of time, and later be allowed 
to dry away, as baking of the soil under 
these conditions may result in serious in- 
jury to the tree. From a study of the soil 
and climatic conditions in Northern 
Africa, where the date palm flourishes, it 
seems probable that dates may be grown 
in the region adjacent to the Salton basin 
west of Yuma. 
The date may be propagated from seeds 
