248 



DRY FARMING CONGRESS. 



earth was found to be occupied with fine feeding roots, the majority of 

 them being in a stratum of from four to eight inches below the surface. 

 A system of rather round, smooth roots, not exceeding two inches in 

 diameter at the base of the tree, and reducing rapidly in size as they 

 put out numerous branches, occupied the soil quite evenly in all direc- 

 tions from the trees, only a few small laterals penetrating to a depth of 

 more than 14 inches. From these branched a very profuse number of 

 fine feeding roots, terminating in little spongioles, were prepared to ap- 

 propriate every particle of moisture as soon as a slight rain should fall. 



Olives at Palm Springs. 



In the neighborhood of Palm Springs, in the upper end of the Colo- 

 rado desert, I found a considerably larger plantation of about the same 

 age, which had been planted in the palmy days of the Whitewater Canal 

 system and the development of the so-called "Palmdale" settlement. Here 

 again for seven years the trees had been without .water, and this in a 

 soil much more friable and less retentive of moisture, lacking almost 

 wholly the clay element found in the soil at Casa Grande. The planting 

 distance had been 20 feet instead of 24. The average rainfall for the re- 

 gion is only 4 1-2 inches, the summer heat frequently reaches 116 to 122 

 degrees, with the evaporation intense, the relative atmospheric humidity 

 aften being as low as 6 to 10 per cent. Yet under all these adverse con- 

 ditions a large majority of these olive trees had lived and even made quite 

 a little growth, some of them reaching a height of seven or eight feet, 

 though the majority were only three to six feet in height. They were 

 very bushy and compact in habit, and carried their branches very close to 

 the ground. The dense canopy of shining dark green leaves effectually 

 shielded the branches and trunk from the fierce heat of the summer sun. 

 I could not learn that these trees had ever borne any fruit, but it seems 

 indeed remarkable that they should have been able to maintain an exist- 

 ence and make growth under these adverse conditions. They were actually 

 competing on their own ground with the creosote bush and various other 

 species of desert shrubs. 



Possibility of the Olive Industry in the United States. 



With these examples of successful growth of the olive as a tree, al- 

 though even at Casa Grande the fruiting had been quite limited, we feel 

 that we have strong ground for the belief that the Chemlali variety of 

 olive grown in Tunis, which has been imported by the Department of 

 Agriculture and is already giving much promise in an experimental way 

 in this country, may be grown over large areas of land in southwestern 

 Texas, and southern Arizona and California if the Arab methods of culti- 

 vation, wide planting and careful interculture are followed out. The cul- 

 ture would be limited to regions affording a suitable soil, the necessary 

 rainfall and a minimum temperature above that fatal to olive growth. 



