FRUIT GROWrXtr II23 



fruit raw, household drinks are made from it. and it is eaten bj' pigs put out 

 to grass and by dogs. 



Chemical composition of the fruit of Diospyros virginiana 

 [average of 6 analyses made in 1896 at the Indiana Station). 



Dry substance 35-i7 % 



Ash 0.78 



Protein 0.88 



Sugar (Xitrogen-free extract) 31-74 



Cellulose 1.43 



A description of the following varieties is given : Burrier, Boone, Del- 

 mas, Early Bearing, Early Golden, Golden Gem, Hicks, Josephine, Kansas, 

 ]\Iiller, Ruby, Shoto and vSmeech. 



It is advised that Diospyros should be grown both by sowing and 

 grafting. 



Diseases and pests — This species is exceptionally free from diseases 

 and pests. The most dangerous of the latter is perhaps the " hickory twig 

 girdler " [Oncideres cingnlata Say), the larva of which bores tunnels in the 

 wood of the young branches. The injury is caused by the mode of oviposi- 

 tion. The adult devours a small amount of bark, generally immediately 

 above or below a bud, and by means of the ovipositor inserts the egg be- 

 neath the bark. Generally, several eggs are thus laid alongside each other, 

 so as to form a ring-shaped incision which causes death and fall of the ends 

 of the 5'oung branches. For control it is necessary, in June or the beginning 

 of July, to collect the small twigs which have fallen to the ground and burn 

 them, so as to destro}^ the insects inside. 



873 -The Date Palms of Egypt and the Sudan. — mason S. C, in United states Department 

 of Agriculture, Bulletin No. 271, 40 pp., 9 fig. ^- XVl tables. Washington, D. C, September 

 28, 1915. 



The first date seeds imported into the United States came from Egypt. 

 As great confusion exists in the classification of the varieties of this great 

 date-producing region, so much so that the identification of some of the 

 best varieties tried in the United States (Palm woods of Tempe and Mecca) 

 is rendered doubtful, the Research Office in connection with the selection 

 and physiolog5' of cultivated plants, and the Foreign seeds and plant Impor- 

 tation Ofiice of the United States Department of Agriculture, sent the writer, 

 in August 1913, to Eg3^pt and the Soudan to study the varieties of date 

 trees. In the above Bulletin the writer described 22 varieties in Egypt 

 and the Sotidan. They comprise the majorit}^ of those having any com- 

 mercial importance, and also several others of less importance but which 

 had hitherto not been described. 



The cultivation of the date in Egypt and the Soudan dates back to 

 very ancient times. At present these countries possess about 9 000 000 

 date palms, the production of which is valued at about 4s. per tree. No 

 more than one fourth of these trees belong to any of the 12 varieties of 

 commercial importance (Aglany, Amhat, Amri, Barakawi or Tbrimi, Ben- 



