176 



THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS ' CONVENTION. 



will be glad to have employment for considerable extra labor at that 

 period, but his wares are not so perishable as to depend on the work of 

 a day, as with strawberries or cantaloupas. In the distribution of the 

 year's work date growing will compare well with the labor problem in 

 the apple orchard or grape vineyard. 



ADVERSE SEASONS. 



No crop grown is more liable to destruction by untimely rains than 

 the date crop, but the arid character of desert countries is so well 

 established that these occurrences are rare. During last October the 

 rainfall at the Tempe garden was 21/2 inches, a quite unprecedented 

 record. Added to this the rise of the ground water from excessive 

 irrigation of the surrounding fields, and a period of cool nights with 

 heav}' dews, and little was lacking to insure the destruction of the crop. 

 Many that ripened soured instead of curing out, and others started 

 to decay while still hard upon the trees. Flies and wasps swarmed in 

 to remind one of the plagues of Egypt. The same conditions, with 

 less rain, began at Mecca, but before long a drying desert wind set in 

 and the damage was stayed, though an autumn temperature below the 

 normal prevented the ripening of considerable fruit that would have 

 matured in ordinary seasons. 



There seems no doubt that the increased humidity due to the prox- 

 imity of the Salton Sea, only a half mile distant, had a retarding action 

 on the ripening of the fruit. 



In the Tempe garden fruits were ripened in commercial quantities 

 two years ago, though the rats destroyed a considerable part of the 

 crop. Those sold, chiefly of the varieties of Rhars, Tedalla. and Birket 

 el H-aggi, brought 25 cents to 40 cents per pound, put up in neat one 

 pound cartons. 



The choice and late Degiet Noor has not yet been successfully ripened 

 at Tempe. Fair specimens of this were secured at Mecca last year in 

 spite of the October rain, and I recently tasted very good Degiet Xoor 

 dates from the private plantation at Heber, in the Imperial Valley. 

 Several of the new varieties from the ^I'Zab region of Algeria gave very 

 finely flavored dates in small samples last year. The present season 

 promises to show fruits of many more varieties, and among them several 

 bunches have been pollinated of the rare ]Menakher variety secured by 

 Mr. Thomas H. Kearney from Tunis, and of which there are but three 

 or four specimens living in the United States. This superb variety. 

 Mr. Kearney states, is seldom placed on the market, even in Tunis, 

 "being reserved for the tables of the wealthy natives and for gifts to 

 their friends. ' ' 



CHARACTERS OF DATE FRUIT. 



Different varieties of dates differ greatly in the amount of suear 

 or syrup they contain. There are the soft, sticky dates which we are 

 accustomed to see upon the market, and others still so soft and syrupy 

 as not to admit of export, but which are eaten fresh or preserved in 

 jars of their own syrup. Still others, the choicest of all. as the Degiet 

 Noor and Menakher, are rich in sugar and of a delicate flavor, but 

 are dry and firm enough to admit of packing in long strings upon their 



