xMarch 1908.] 



241 



Miscellaneous. 



duction of the poinologist of the depart- 

 ment, it was the exploration trip of Mr. 

 Swingle to the Desert of Sahara in 18:)9 

 that first proved the feasibility of start- 

 ing commercial date plantations in Ari- 

 zona and California. From the time 

 when the first large shipment of palm 

 suckers reached the south-west until the 

 present, the Office of Plant Introduction 

 has had an explorer in some one or other 

 of the great date regions of the old 

 world, gathering plants for the Govern- 

 ment Plantations. To-day the list of 

 introduced varieties numbers over 170, 

 and more than 3,000 palms, large and 

 small, have been imported and planted 

 out. The best sorts from the Egyptian 

 oases, selected kinds from the valley of 

 the Tigris, the famous dates of southern 

 Tunis, and even the varieties from 

 uncivilised Baluchistan, have been 

 gathered into what can proudly be 

 called the best collection of date varie- 

 ties in the world. This search through the 

 deserts of the world has revealed the fact 

 that the dates of our markets are only one 

 or two kinds of the host of sorts known 

 to the true date eaters, the Arabs, and 

 that those we prize as delicacies are by 

 no means looked upon by the desert- 

 dwellers as their best. The search has 

 brought to light as well the hard, dry 

 date, which Americans do not know at 

 all, and which they will learn to ap- 

 preciate as food, just as the Arab has. 

 Already, Egyptian and Algerian im- 

 ported' palms have borne and ripened 

 fruit, and many persons in close touch 

 and sympathy with the work have sam- 

 pled the fruits of the newly-introduced 

 industry. 



To ail of us who have seen the date 

 palm forests of the old world deserts, and 

 who have followed the progress of the 

 experiments iu this country, the laud- 

 scape of the deserts of Arizona and Cali- 

 fornia will not long be thought of with- 

 out the presence of these stately plants 

 that have so much that is biblical and 

 ancient about them. 



THE CAROB TREE OR ST. JOHN'S BREAD. 



No tree of the Mediterranean region is 

 more beautiful than the Italian carubo, 

 the carob or St. John's bread of the 

 English. In Sicily it is under its shade 

 that the tired tourist stops to rest, and 

 in Spain it is the orchards of the alga- 

 roba that attract his attention by their 

 dark green foliage and picturesque form. 

 Few realize that this tree is seldom 

 planted for its shade or for its landscape 

 effect, but for its pods. 



These are borne iu profusion and are 

 most highly prized as fodder. There 

 are carob-sellers in Spain, just as there 

 are barley-buyers here, and these sellers 

 export their carobs to this country iu 



large quantities. The thick brown pods 

 are full of a sweet honey-like fluid that 

 runs out if you break them open. Cattle 

 and horses are exceedingly fond of them, 

 and children eat them, too, even in this 

 land of cheap candies. Their nutritive 

 value is high, so high in fact that a Wis- 

 consiu manufacturer makes one of the 

 best calf foods on the market out of them. 



The carob has already found a home 

 in our West, and there are fruiting trees 

 near Los Angelos to prove that it has 

 come to stay. 



EGYPTIAN COTTON INTRODUCTION. 

 America is the greatest cotton-produc- 

 ing country in the world, but neverthe- 

 less over 112,000 bales of cotton were 

 imported from Egypt in 1899. There are 

 distinctly different kinds of this great 

 staple, and the Egyptian cotton supplies 

 a different demand from the so-called 

 uplaud cotton of this country. It is a 

 variety with a long, very silky and 

 crinkly fibre of a light brown color, and 

 has been found better than the upland 

 for the manufacture of stockings and 

 underwear, and for mixing with silk. It 

 is not the equal of the Sea Island cotton 

 that is grown on the islands off the 

 Atlantic coast, but the area in which the 

 Sea Island varieties can be grown is 

 very limited and the supply disposed 

 of at fancy prices. It was thought that 

 the Egyptian cotton might be success- 

 fully grown in the South, and numerous 

 attempts to introduce it have been made 

 by the Department ; but while the plants 

 grew well, they proved poor yielders, 

 and their culture has been abandoned, 

 although Dr. H. J. Webber has since 

 made a large quantity of hybrids be- 

 tween this Egyptian cotton and the up- 

 land sorts, and these are more promising. 



In the great Colorado River valley, 

 however, which is the American Egypt, 

 and has its dry, mild climate, its ii li- 

 gation systems, and its long growing 

 season, the Egyptian cotton promises 

 much. There fields of it have been 

 grown that resemble in almost every 

 way the great fields along the Nile, and 

 with the rapid increase in population 

 that is taking place along the Colorado 

 River will come the demand for this, the 

 great money-making crop of Egypt. 



ALFALFAS FROM TURKESTAN AND ARABIA. 



From many standpoints alfalfa is the 

 greatest forage crop in the world, and 

 when its immense money value is con- 

 sidered the importance of a better 

 variety, that costs no more to grow than 

 the ordinary one, becomes apparent. 



It found its way into this country 

 probably from Asia Minor or Arabia 

 through the round-about way of Chile. 

 Since its introduction by tfie Friars iu 



