America's Crop Heritage


with requests for the suckers. The Southern Pacific Railroad
transported a carload of the plants to Arizona and California free
of charge. Recipients of the trees were to act only as trustees of
the plants, to keep any one grower from cornering a superior
variety.
 The consul at Muscat, Arabia, sent the Department six plants
of the Fard date from that region. These were planted in tubs and
sent to California and Arizona. One of these plants was received
by the agent of the Southern Pacific Railroad at Indio, Cali-
fornia-the present center of the American date industry.
 Successful introduction of the date palm is due largely to the
work of Walter T. Swingle. Acting under instructions from the
Secretary of Agriculture, Swingle visited a flourishing date orchard
near the Algerian coast in 1899. He secured a few offshoots for a
trial shipment and contracted for a large shipment at a later date.
 The Deglet Noor-The following year, he again visited Algeria
 to purchase additional plants of good sorts from Biskra on the
 northern margin of the Sahara, and in the foothills of the Atlas
 Mountains. Through the cooperation of the president of a French
 company, Swingle was able to study the details of growing and
 marketing dates in a region south of Biskra. Here at Ourlana,
 Swingle obtained suckers of the Deglet Noor, the basic variety
 of the present date industry in the United States, and some other
 varieties unknown at Biskra. These were transported northward
 to the Mediterranean shores by camel. In all, twenty-three cases
 were shipped from Algeria to New York whence they were for-
 warded to New Orleans. The plants were given free shipment
 from New Orleans by the Southern Pacific Railroad to the palm
 garden at Tempe in the Salt River Valley. Some of this shipment
 of 447 shoots of 27 varieties were distributed at other stations in
 California and Arizona.
 Experiments in California with the cultivation of the Deglet
 Noor date palm have shown this to be one of the most productive
 food crops in the world. One palm, as a result of long, continued
 experiments, can now be made to bear four hundred pounds of
 dates per year. The effort, patience, and investment required to
 adapt valuable plant introductions to a new country and the
 ultimate wisdom of the investment are illustrated by the history
 of the date palm. The Deglect Noor date required an investment
 of over $100,000, Swingle has estimated, and over ten years of
 study before it produced the first paying crop. Previous experi-


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