56 DATE VARIETIES AND DATE CULTURE IN TUNIS. 



very young plantations on the edges of the oases of Tozer and Xefta 

 (PL VII. fig. 2) often contain only Deglet Xoor and Fteemy palms. 



In this bulletin only varieties that exist in the Jerid and Nef- 

 zaoua oases are treated. However, most of the important Tunisian 

 varieties are thus included, there being few at Gafsa and at Gabes 

 which do not also occur in one or both of the other groups. Descrip- 

 tions are given of all the varieties that are at all abundant in the 

 Jerid and the Nefzaoua, as well as of all that could be found that are 

 noteworthy for their quality. Yet there are probably three times as 

 manv named and well-defined varieties in the region as are described 

 in this paper; and the writer examined, photographed, and obtained 

 samples of the fruits of nearly twice as many. Many of these, how- 

 ever, are extremely rare, in some cases being probabh^ confined to a 

 single garden. 



Suckers of all the varieties described, with the exception of the 

 Chedakh. Deglet Hamidatoo, Deglet Hassen, Khalt Menakhry. and 

 Selatn3% were brought to the United States." Eleven varieties, of 

 which suckers were imported, could not be included in the " Key to- 

 the varieties," at the end of this bulletin, as either the fruits were not 

 seen or else samples and photographs were not obtained. Their 

 characters, so far as known, are described under the heading " Va- 

 rieties imported but not included in the key," page 90. 



The Arabic names of the varieties alone are in use. In all matters 

 of nomenclature and orthography ]Mr. W. T. Swingle, Avho has given 

 much consideration to this subject, was freely consulted. In the 

 main the names as given by the writer are identical with those given 

 by Masselot,'' although the spelling has been altered to the extent 

 necessary to render it phonetic for English-speaking readers. The 

 names of the varieties described in this paper which do not occur in 

 Masselot's list are sjielled i^honeticallj' as pronounced for the writer 

 by the natives. In some cases, where the name of a variety differs in 

 difl'erent oasis groups, the pronunciation current in the Jerid oases 

 is followed as the standard. 



At the end of this report, in the descriptive key (p. 97), the fruit 

 characters that appear to be most useful for the identification of the 

 varieties are described in detail. In the present chapter, brief de- 

 scriptions of the fruits as to size, shape, flavor, and keeping quality, 

 and in many cases of the characters of the palms themselves, are 

 given. Geographical distribution, abundance or rarity, productive- 

 ness, earliness of ripening, commercial importance, vigor, rapidity of 

 growth, and alkali resistance are also discussed. 



a These five varieties are nevertheless described, the first l)ecause of its 

 abundaiK^e. and the others because of their fine qiiality : and thus practically 

 all the important varieties of the .Torid are treated in this paper. 



6 Bui. Dir. Agr. et Com. Tunis. ])p. ]4r.-l(;i (llX)l). 



'.12 



