DATE VARIETIES 275 



Arab a date is ripe enough to eat when it is still so 

 hard and astringent that live stock would hardly 

 touch it in the United States. The variety is rare, 

 but much in demand because of its earliness and its 

 heavy yield. It is rarely cured because there is such 

 a demand for fresh dates at the beginning of the 

 season that they are never given a chance to hang 

 on the tree after they are edible. The fruit is de- 

 scribed as slender, very dark brown or black in color. 

 Has not yet fruited in the United States. 



Qush Farfara, name of an oasis (the word is 

 perhaps formed to imitate the murmur or bubbling 

 of running water), sometimes called the Farfara 

 Fardh; a soft date of Oman, almost identical with the 

 genuine Fardh of commerce, but growing in a different 

 region and ripening a month earlier; the quality is 

 also considered slightly inferior. In actual practice 

 the two dates are indiscriminately mixed together for 

 export. A common variety, but not a very heavy 

 bearer. Arabs say it keeps better than the ordinary 

 Fardh, showing no deterioration for at least three 

 years after it is picked. 



Its remarkable keeping qualities are illustrated 

 by the experience of a sharp dealer at Masqat, who 

 for several years, when the Mecca pilgrimage fell in 

 summer, sent these dates to Mecca and palmed them 

 off on the pilgrims as fresh dates of that year's crop; 

 they were so well preserved that the deception was 

 easy, although the dates when sold were at least ten 

 months old. They were put on the market earlier 

 than the Mecca dates could ripen, and the speculator 

 secured a fancy price for them. The game was 

 finally exposed when one shipment was found riddled 



