Newspaper Page Text
Imperial Press.
VOL 11.
A DATE ORCHARD AT IMPERIAL.
The Neglet-Noor Date Plants are Being Imported
for This Orchard.
This is the Finest Date Grown — It is a Dessert Date
That Retails at 50 Cents a Pound in this Country
— Government Expert Endorses Enterprise.
Steps are now being taken to estab
lish the largest date orchard in Amer
ica near the town of Imperial, to con
sist of 160 acres, and the dates are
to be of the Neglet Noor variety, the
finest date known — a desert date that
retails at fifty cents per pound — the
highest price paid for a dried fruit
in America.
Prof. Walter T. Swingle, the Gov
ernment date expert, who has spent
several years searching Africa for the
best varieties of dates that can be had
for importation into the United
States, is endorsing this . enterprise
and advising his intimate friends to
invest in the industry. Prof. Swingle
is at present in Italy, and from a let
ter from him to A. H. Heber, pfesi
dent of the California Development
Company, we are allowed to take th*e
following extracts:
"For nearly a year, l have been en
gaged in preparing a bulletin on the
Date Palm, which at last I have sent
to the Department of Agriculture,
which will shortly issue it as a bul
letin (90 pp., 40 plates). I have taken
much trouble to go to the bottom of
the matter, and have proved beyond
all doubt, the truth of the facts I
asserted last year, that the Neglet
Noor date can mature in the Imperial
Valley, and that this plant can with
stand more alkali than any other
profitable crop. These facts will
shortly be demonstrated in a manner
that will attract the attention of the
public.
"It is now clear that the Neglet
Noor date cannot ' be counted on to
mature regularly, and may not ripen
at all in the Salt River Valley, Ari
zona — the only considerable region
now under irrigation that can rival
with the Imperial Valley in date pTo
duction. This choice variety — the
most expensive dried fruit that
reaches the American market — will
become a monopoly of the Imperial
Valley, and all danger from foreign
competition is obviated because of
the insufficiency of the Sahara crop to
meet even the European demands,
and furthermore by the fact that the
Imperial Valley crop will be placed on
the market long before the imported
article, and before Instead of after
Christmas, besides being fresh and
in better shape.
"At San Francisco, I was told by
Goldberg, Bowen & Co., the leading
grocers, that any quantity of Neglet
Noor dates could be sold at 35 cents
for a 10-ounce box (50 cents a pound),
if only they could be had before the
holidays. At the same time, selected
Smyrna flgs were selling for 30 cents
AND FARMER.
"Water is King— Here is its Kingdom.* *
IMPERIAL, CAL, SATURDAY, MARCH 14, 1903.
a pound in one-pound boxes.
"The yield of this variety is large —
135 pounds on the average in the
Sahara, where the soil is less fertile
and the water much more alkaline
than in the Salton Basin. No
other fruit culture offers the same
promise for the region, and the date
palm, far from being a last resort for
land useless for anything, will repay
planting on the very best land as a
staple crop.
"The composition of the alkali of the
Imperial .Valley is such that it is a
valuable fertilizer to a plant like the
date palm, which is a highly alkali
resistant. It is therefore positively
advantageous to the date palm to have
a moderate amount of alkali in the
soil,' of a nature of that found in the
Imperial Valley.
"The amount of labor required is
less than for other fruit trees, and
the fruit, when it ripens, does not
demand immediate attention, but will
keep for weeks, can be harvested by
cutting off a whole bunch at a time,
and does not require any curing
process, as do less valuable dates.
"The Imperial Valley will have the
monopoly of this — one of the most
lucrative and facile fruit cultures
known, and one which, instead of
being harmed by the unusual con
ditions prevailing in the region, is,
on the contrary, benefited thereby.
I would not be surprised to see an
export trade grow up in the first
hand-picked dates which can be ship
ped for Thanksgiving, and which will
reach London markets at least two
weeks before the earliest Sahara
shipments. The control of the Amer
ican markets is assured.
"I do not hesitate to assert that
the practical establishment of this
culture in the Imperial Valley is of
the very greatest importance, and
will mark an epoch in American agri
cultural advance.
"My large shipment (of dates) for
the Government reached Arizona July
17th, 1900, and eighty per cent, of
the suckers grew which were shipped
by my new method. In 1902 — only two
years after planting — eighteen of
these palms flowered and bore fruit,
and many more have already produced
new offshoots.
"It is the Intention of this company
to import Neglet Noor suckers for
sale, rendering it possible for settlers
all through the basin to begin plant
ing as soon as they desire, thereby
rendering possible the rapid estab
lishment of date culture, as soon as
its demonstration culture gives an
object lesson in methods of propa
gating, planting and caring for this
unusual plant.
"Nursery stock cannot be propa
gated rapidly as with fruit trees that
can be grafted or budded, so the es
tablishment of such an import trade
in 'Saharan suckers will greatly
facilitate the utilization of the date
palm in the Salton Basin."
The Coachella Submarine boasts
that it is at a lower point below sea
level than any other paper in the
world. That is probably true, but
just wait till a paper is established
at the new town of Brawley — 12 miles
north of Imperial — and then that
claim will not be good, for Brawley
is located about 150 feet below sea
level — Coachella only 76 feet below.
While the rain-belt farmer watches
the clouds in vain, and his crops are
being parched by the sun, the irriga
tion farmer opens the water gates and
supplies his crops with the required
amount of water at the proper time.
Praise for Mr. Howe.
General John Wasson, in his paper,
the Pomona Times, speaks words of
great praise of E. F. Howe, the new
owner of the Press, who will assume
editorial charge of the paper in a
few days. It is natural that one who
has not been at Imperial during the
last few months should not realize
how real news of development work
is crowding forward. General • Was
son says:
"E. F. Howe, the talented editor of
the Ontario Record, has bought the
Imperial Press, at Imperial, San Diego
county, and will take possession by
March 1. To many fairly good
editors the field would be a barren
one; for Mr. Howe it will be one of
inspiration and full of local as well as
general topics of much interest. He
has ability to make a paper interest
ing whether local conditions are lively
and changing or not. Out on what
most people call a desert because
they can't appreciate the fruitful pos
sibilities of the country, Mr. Howe
sees the work of God in most inter
esting phases. He can easily see (in
the future) a country teeming with
grasses, grains, fruits, vegetables,
fowls and domestic animals, and the
air redolent with the perfume of the
most brilliant and attractive flowers,
with homes of health, abundance and
luxury. He will see in the storms, in
the risings and settings of the sun, in
the moon and stars; In the lives and
habits of the native reptiles, animals,
fowls, insects and Indians, ever in
creasing Interest. Any or all these,
at any time when space will permit,
or local subjects are a little thread
bare by use, will inspire Mr. Howe
to evolve thoughts and dissertations
that will not fail to interest young
and old students, and even allure the
tourist to Imperial. Mr. Howe is
equal to any situation in newspaper
dom — whether nature has done much
or little to invite man. The Imperial
Press will be more than ever a wel
come X."
Railway Link with Mexico.
An element of importance in the
development of Southern California is
disclosed in the railway project out
lined in Wednesday's Herald. The
proposition is to open the Pacific
Coast districts of Northern Mexico
by the extension into them of the
Southern Pacific railway system.
President Harriman is said to be en
gaged in planning the enterprise and
the intimation is given that it will
take practical shape in the near
future.
The project thus noted involves the
extension of the Southern Pacific
branch from Imperial, to which point
it has just been finished, southwest
ward to the Mexican border, a distance
of twenty-eight miles. From that
point is it proposed to extend the line
into Lower California as soon as the
Mexican government makes provision
therefor in the way of official per
mission and the assurance of such
land grants as may be desired. At
the same time, as reported, the
Southern Pacific will extend a branch
into the mainland of Mexico, pene
trating the State of Slnaloa and form
ing a connection with the Kansas
City, Mexico and Orient Railway.
All the districts thus to be opened
in Northern Mexico will be commer
cial tributaries of Los Angeles by
reason of the direct railway connec
tion. — Los 'Angeles Herald.
Good railroad authority expresses
the opinion that the Imperial branch
is to be extended in a southwesterly
direction through Lower California to
Ensenada, with one line reaching"
tidewater at San Diego. President
Harriman's brother recently spent
several months examining all that
section of country.
Imperial Booming.
Track laying was completed to Im
perial, the metropolis of the desert,
last week, and the day after its com
pletion forty settlers from lowa ar
rived at the settlement preparatory to
taking up land and building homes.
Workmen are now busy leveling and
putting in the sidings at the station,
and regular schedule passenger trains
will soon be running. The tiresome
stage ride from Old Beach across the
desert is now a thing of the past.
The citizens are making preparations
for the increased business that is ex
pected attendant upon the advent of
the railroad. Progress and improve
ment will now be more extensive and
of a better character. — Phoenix Ari
zona Democrat.
Vast Marble Deposit.
Twenty-eight location notices cover-
Ing a vast deposit of marble were filed
In the recorder's office in San Diego
on January 22nd. The deposit, which
is situated about twenty-five miles
west of Imperial, on the surveyed line
of the San Diego-Eastern Railway, Is
eight miles in length and several hun
dred feet in width. It was discovered
last December and is said to be larger
than the famous deposits at Carrara,
Italy, and In Vermont. The stone is
white, veined with gray and black. —
Santa Ana Leader.
The man who shouts "anything to
win" is usually the man who has
nothing to' lose.
