VARIETIES OF THE DATE PALM IN TUNIS. 55 



conic vorv soft. Soiiic kinds, both of soft and of dry dates, can be 

 j)rcscrvcd several yeai'-^ without sj)oibnu', althouiih dry dates ai'c apt 

 to become excessively hard when kei)t for a k)ng time. Soft, sirupy 

 dates of «>()od keepinji" (iiiality. sncli as the Khars and the Lagoo, are 

 preserved in earthenware jars or in skin l)a<2;s. The finer sorts, such 

 as the Deglet Xoor. are ofttMi huiiii- \\\) in bunches in the houses of 

 the natives, and are picked oif or else served on the branch as wanted. 

 It is said that the frnits of some varieties can be preserved only by 

 leaving them on the bun.ch until they are completely dry, when they 

 can be detached. Others which are esjiecially liable to become 

 wormy should be dried in the sun. aflei' first splitting them open and 

 removing the seeds. 



VARIETIES OF THE DATE PALM IN TUNIS. 



While it is impossible to state exactly the number of well-defined 

 varieties of the date palm occurring in Tunis, it is probably not far 

 from 150. The .Iciid oases are partic-ularly rich in varieties, con- 

 taining considerably more than 100 distinct kinds." Some of these 

 are extremely local. At Nefta several varieties were seen that a])par- 

 cntly do not occur at Tozer, while in the Nefzaoua there are many 

 kinds that are verv rare or entirelv wanting in the Jerid, and vice 

 versa. Yet certain varieties (the Kenta and Areshty, for example) 

 are widely distributed, being found not only in all the Tunis oases, 

 but also in those of eastern Algeria. Each group of oases in Tunis 

 has its characteristic varieties. Thus, in the Jerid the Fteemy is 

 by far the most abundant sort, while in the Nefzaoua, Gabes, and 

 Gafsa groups it is rare or absent. Varieties such as Doonga and 

 Zekry, which are important and highly esteemed in the Xefzaona, 

 are hardly known in the Jerid, although the nearest oases of the two 

 groups are only about 30 miles distant. The Boo Hath'm variety, 

 one of the most abundant at Gabes and at Gafsa, is apparently want- 

 ing in the two other groups. 



Nearly all the gardens contain a large number of varieties, mixed 

 together in the greatest confusion. Only in the newer gardens of the 

 Jerid do we find plantations of the Deglet Xoor occupying areas of 

 some size, to the exclusion of other kinds. One large garden at 

 Tozer is remarkable for containing almost solely the Deglet X^oor and 

 Fteemy varieties, but this is a rare exception. The present tendency 

 is to plant Deglet Xoor offshoots as fast as they can be obtained, and 



"Du I'nty de Clam published (Bui. de Geogr. Hist, et Descr., No. 3, 189.3) a 

 list of 7-1 varieties found in the .Terid. INIasselot (P.ul. Dir. Agr. et Com. Tunis, 

 pp. 14r>-l()l, 1901) enumerates 94 named varieties. The writer was able to 

 obtain fruit of all but 2.3 of these, and examined fruits of 21 named varieties 

 not included in Masselot's catalogue. 

 92 



