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TES are
LICIOUS
By EVALYN SLACK GIST-
Many find the Coachella Valley in Southern California a
winter rendezvous because of the sunshiny days.
Springs, with its exclusive shops and gay movie colony,
popular attraction. However, the stately gardens where
grow suntanned, plump and toothsome, are without
the Valley's most exclu-
• lure.
years ago practically
date eaten in the United
was imported from the
To(lay brands bear-
Coachella Valley addresses
Sold across the nation.
alon U.S. 99, just 135
Los Angeles,
Wedge-shaped, below sea
stretch of desert, only
48 miles in length and less
a quarter that in average
produces every year
per cent of all the dates
in the Western Hemi-
Known for 7)000 3:'ears
are actually one of the
cultivated tree crops, rec-
in Iraq (Mesopotania) indi-
they were important as
as 3000 B.C.
missionaries in Amer-
the latter part of the
century planted date seeds
their missions. Even to-
n few of the original palms
off-shoots are found in
lifornia and Mexico.
coastal climate
of the early rots-
were founded, was not con-
to fruiting.
lirst in Coachella
seedlings planted in the
Valley began to beat',
over 50 years ago, atten-
was turned to dates as an
commercial p o s s i-
the Arabs of old, the
Valley experimenters
found seeds always orig-
a new species, never re-
their kind. It there-
became necessary to pro-
from Old World
gardens in Arabia, Iraq,
and North Africa.
15 and 25 of these
grow from the base
the parent palm during the
15 years of its life, true to
and sex.
Cost Too High
4912 antt 1913 soine 17,000
intended for plant-
in California and Arizona,
imported by the govern-
and various individuals.
y the cost was so
Coachella Valley ranch-
Could buy.
late in 1913, a non-
group which had been or-
earlier in the year, sent
)resentative to Africa in
of arranging the purchase
0ff-shoots at a more reason-
figure.
tie was successful. Choice
were delivered to the
ranchers at $2.76 each
Mace of the previous asking
of $5.00 each in lots of 100
ore with $6.50 fo lesser
leG.
]French Curtail Exports
following year, when the
government curtailed ex-
t h e Coachella .Valley
had sufficient off-
to begin building toward
present $5,000,000 yearly
Ms, in part, is the history
of one of California's most
inating assets.
are many varieties of
divkted into three general
groups according to whether
soft, semi-dry or dry. The l)eg-
let Noor, a semi-dry spe(.ic;
from Algeria, is the lea(ling com-
mercial variety in the Coaehelht
Valley. It is a late ripener aM
usually yields between 200 and
300 pounds of dates per tree.
Pioneer (;rower
The second in irnportance i
the Khadrawy, a soft (late fronl
Iraq, which ripens early, yiehl-
ing between 100 and 150 pounds
per tree.
E. F. Shields, one of the Val-
ley's pioneer date growers, has
developed a species (Black
Beauty) so rare he sells only a
single one to each customer vis-
iting his salesroom.
Date palms are dioecious; that
is, the pollen and fruit floers
grow on separate palms with
only the pollen flower fragrant.
For sucoessful commercial pro-
duction, pollination has to be by
hand, a tedious process when
you consider there are usually
forty-eight palms to the acre,
each having between ten anti
fourteen clusters of fruit when
in full production.
One method consists of tying
several strands of the male or
pollen flower into the female
blossom two or three clays after.
it opens, usually during March
and April.
Pollenizatiou Difficult
Another method, less generally
used, calls for dusting dried pol-
len on cotton and placing one or
two pieces about the size of a
walnut between strands of the
female blossom.
After the fruit begins to
acquire its khalal color (when
the red or yellow hue is most
intense) paper bags with the
lower ends open are fastened
over each cluster to protect from
insecLs, dust and moisture. The
latter has been known to ruin
an entire crop by causing the
dates to split.
Since the dates on any one
bunch do not ripen uniformly
several pickings, all by hand, are
necessary (luring the harvest
season which begins early in
October, occasionally lasting into
March for late varieties. Many
of the date houses invite inspec-
tion. That of Lee Anderson, an.
other pioneer date grower, ha
the welcome mat out as has 1!2 F.
Shields and the picturesque Sniff
gardens.
Care and Storage
The proper care and storage of
dates, while not complicated ig
important. Certain precaution
are necessary to insure prime
fruit reaching the customer.
As soon as the dates come imo
the packinghouse they are fumi-
gated, cleaned and graded imo
lots of uniform ripeness, size and
texture. Those with a higll
moisture content have to be
dried if they are to be kept for
any length of time.
It was a valuable discovery to
find dates increase in food value
with age. Some growers with
suitable storage equipment de-
liberately withhold their crop
until it is nearer a predigested
food than aiinost any other
known.
--M. 1, Gist Ph,o4o.
TEN-YEAR-OLD DATE PALM in full production. Paper sacks have been removed to show the
clusters.
The CASE of the
FADING WOODPECKER
Proof That Even in Nature a Square
Peg Won't Do Well in a Round Hole
By HAL MASSON
If somebody offered to give
you the bodies of 52,000 dead
birds you would be well justi-
fied in asking him to see a
doctor. If you accepted the offer"
you should go along with him.
Yet such an offer was made
last year and accepted gratefully.
The giver was Dr. Robert T.
Moore of Pasfidena and the re-
ceiver was Occidental College,
Los Angeles. Dr. Moore is a
wealthy ornithologist whose in-
terest in birds anti what can be
learned from them has led him
to the discovery of two new
genuses and the naming of a
good many species hitherto un-
known except by the colloquial
names of Indian tril)es in the
Mexican interior.
Dr. Moore employs a man fulli
time at his own expense just
to seek out and capture birds for
classification and study. Of the
52,000 birds in the present col-
lection" 47,000 are from Mexico
and the remaining 5000 are from
Ecuador, Honduras and other
parts of South America.
Since Occidental (lid not have
room to house such a collection
Dr. Moore granted it enough
:M. 'B. Gist 'Photo.
MALE AND FEMALE BLOSSOMS of th4 date palm. Notice how
the female bloom it tied after pQ!liha!ioq. , , , ..... ,
money to build a fine new two-
story building with a large class-
room downstairs and the collec-
tion occupying the second floor.
The specimens are not mounted
behind glass windows as we
exi)e to see them in a collec-
tion for the public view, but are
encased in almost hermetically
sealed metal cabinets with wide
shallow drawers. Each drawer
contains row upon row of birds
of the same genus arranged ac-
cording to the patterns of where
they were discovered.
The Charging 'oodpe4ker
What does all this do for us?
Well, let us go back to that draw-
er where all those little wood-
peckers are. This first row near-
est us were taken in the north
of Mexico, in Sonora. We note
their color--greyish; their size
biggish. Since those are the most
obvious characteristics we will
concentrate on them. Now a,
we travel south through the
rows of woodpeckers we notice
that they become progressively
smaller and progressively deep-
er in color until those that came
from Chiapas are quite tiny and
a rich brown.
Dr. Davis, the ornithologist
who is in charge of the collec-
tion did not explain why the"
northern birds were larger--it
probably has some relation to
the size of their closest natural
enemy--but he did point out that
the coloring is adapted to the
kind of foliae where they were
found. The northern birds could
hide easily against the paler
hues of the sand, rocks and
greyish leaves anti bark of the
arid mountains of Sonora. Ill
Chiapas rainfall is heavy and
the jungle grows lush and green.
The Chiapas woodpecker simply
(Continued on Page 4)
READ THE
CLASSIFIED ADS
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"The Market. PIKe"
Oft 1 This
Page Itsae
You may find a bargain there,,
or you re:lit be reminded of
something you have to sell.
Put The Market Place to work
fo you. Try a elassilied ad in
MAGAZ| NI CALIIPOIgNIA.