Imperial Valley Press, Volume 2, Number 7, 31 May 1902 — More Date Trees [ARTICLE]

More Date Trees

According to the Phoenix Republican, the Government is still at work on the task of introducing date trees to the desert section. That paper says:

"Another car load of date palms was planted yesterday at the experiment station south of Tempe. These palms came a year ago from Egypt, but did not arrive in Arizona until October, being kept in the station greenhouse at Tucson through the winter. They are of large size — the largest weighing 600 pounds. They are thirty-five in number, comprising some six or seven of the choicest Egyptian varieties.

"Professor Forbes reports the orchard in fine condition, seventeen of the suckers imported two years ago being in blossom. This is a record breaker for transplanted suckers, and there will be early information on the quality of fruit produced by these imported trees. Thus far the date orchard experiment near Tempe seem to be proving successfully that the culture of date palms in Arizona will some day become an extensive and a profitable industry or that it may become so if the tillers of the soil choose to engage in it. The palm is valuable first for the reason that it can be grown successfully in so few sections of the Unaed States and secondly because the soil required is that which is least valuable for other purposes. It is one of the lines of investigation carried on by the experimental station that is resulting satisfactorily and that could not well have been undertaken by private enterprise."