218 DATEGROWING 



to Deglet Nur. It is said to be about the size of 

 the latter date, slightly lighter in color, and equally 

 translucent. It matures late — well on to November 1. 

 A shy bearer, and the dates are small unless a large 

 proportion of the clusters be removed. May have 

 originated as a seedling of Deglet Nur. Has not yet 

 fruited in the United States. 



Badinjanl, The Egg-Plant Date, so called from 

 its resemblance to the fruit of Solanum melongena. 

 Introduced to the United States only this year. A 

 scarce Baghdad variety, really a dry date, but better 

 when gathered while still soft, and packed in boxes or 

 skins. It is also good when fresh (rutab) and better 

 than the average in its dry form. Season varies 

 widely; in some places it is one of the earliest to ripen, 

 say early August, while in others it comes a month 

 later. Bears well and is highly esteemed. 



*Deglet should correctly be transliterated Daqlet when followed 

 by a vowel, or Daqleh when followed by a consonant; the collective 

 plural Daqal is often used by illiterate Arabs of the present day as a 

 singular, Degal. Its general meaning is "weak, emaciated, or thin," 

 and as applied to palms it means, according to one of the best classical 

 lexicographers, "a variety of palm trees, and the dates thereof are 

 bad, although the daqleh may be abundant in fruit; and some have 

 red dates and some have black; the body of the dates being small 

 and the stone large." Another says, "they are the worst of palm 

 trees and their dates the worst of dates." The word refers, in short, 

 to a chance seedling which can not be identified with any known 

 variety, and as such it is regularly used today, and has always been 

 so used, in all Arab commimities. But occasionally a seedling desig- 

 nated by this name is foimd worthy of perpetuation, and then, instead 

 of being given a regular variety name, it is sometimes allowed to 

 keep the word Daqleh in its name, to recall to the Arabs the fact 

 that it is an adventitious variety — such is the case with Deglet Nur 

 and many others. These exceptions do not weaken the general rule 

 that a date described by the Arabs as a degal is of inferior quality, 

 and in most cases it will be found that a variety whose name contains 

 that word is of secondary importance. There is not the slightest 

 authority for saying that degal means a soft date; it is, indeed, more 

 likely to be dry than soft. 



