DATE CULTUTE HY THE ANCIENTS. 17 



dates, consisting of numerous fruits, borne on slender twi^s, which 

 branch from a main stalk (PL XXII and Yearbook, 1900, PL LX). 

 Such a bunch may bear from 10 to 40 pounds of dates, and a vigorous 

 tree is commonly allowed to produce from eight to twelve such bunches. 

 The date itself is, of course, familiar to everyone; it is an oval fruit 

 from 1 to 3 inches long, and one-half or one-third as wide, containing 

 a single seed surrounded by a half dry and very sweet pulp, usually 

 amber colored. There are very many varieties of dates, differing 

 widely as to character and quality, as will be explained more in detail 

 farther on. 



DATE CULTURE BY THE ANCIENTS. 



The date palm is one of the oldest cultivated plants. It is fully 

 described on the clay tablets of the ancient Assyrians. It was undoubt- 

 edly one of their most important food plants, and every detail of its 

 culture, the operation of pollinating the flowers, and even the serving 

 of the fruit at the tables of the wealthy were delineated with great 

 accuracy on their monuments and wall sculptures. It is probable that 

 the date palm was first extensively grown in the valle} T s of the 

 Euphrates and Tigris rivers. It was apparently little known and but 

 slightly esteemed in ancient Egypt before 3000 B. C., although as 

 early as 2000 B. C. it had already become a well-known fruit tree. 

 Not much is known as to the origin of the date palm, although every- 

 thing points to its being native in some of the ravines bordering the 

 deserts of northern Africa or Arabia. It is probable that it was first 

 cultivated by the Assyrians, afterwards by the Egyptians, and that 

 very early its culture became almost a national indust^ with the 

 Arabs. It is true that the date palm existed in ancient Africa before 

 the arrival of the Arabs. It was, however, comparatively unimportant, 

 at least in the western Sahara, and the varieties were probably infe- 

 rior. When the Arabs invaded the western Sahara and the Barbary 

 States during the seventh century, and at various intervals until the 

 twelfth century, they introduced the use of the camel and thereby 

 rendered it possible for the inhabitants of the oases to satisfy all their 

 wants, simply by growing an abundance of dates, since the camels 

 could carry the dates to the more fertile regions bordering the Medi- 

 terranean, where they could be exchanged for the wheat and barley 

 needed in the Sahara for making bread. In consequence of this eco- 

 nomic revolution, the culture of the date palm speedily became, and is 

 still, the most important interest throughout the Sahara Desert. 



The Moors undoubtedly introduced the date palm into Spain, where, 

 in spite of the unfavorable climate, it was extensively planted during 

 the Saracen domination. The first date palms in the New World were 

 grown from seeds carried from Spain by the missionaries who accom- 

 panied the Spaniards on their voyages of discovery and conquest, 

 13529 No, 5304 2 



