

VAKIETIES OF PRIMARY IMPORTANCE. 61 



The leaves (PI. V) are long and broad and rather stiff and heavy, 

 crowded with very numerous long leaflets, and their stalks are armed 

 almost throughout their length with long, stout spines. The fruit 

 clusters are short and dense, their stalks bright yellow (not at all 

 orange), rather short, stout, and only moderately curved, so that 

 the bundles do not hang down below the leaves, as in the Deglet Noor, 

 but are almost hidden by the foliage. 



This superb variety produces fruit that is thought by many of the 

 natives, and even by some of the few Europeans who have tasted' it, to 

 surpass the Deglet Noor. In the writer's judgment and that of several 

 of his colleagues who have given much attention to the subject of 

 dates, as well as in the opinion of the experts attached to two of the 

 largest American firms that import fruits, it is at least equal in quality 

 to the Deglet Noor, which it considerably resembles in flavor. In sizr 

 Menakher dates are one and one-half to nearly two times as large as 

 the Deglet Noor. a In color they are generally darker. The seed, 

 though thick, is short in proportion 

 to the length of the fruit, and it 

 is very different in appearance from 

 that of the Deglet Noor. The thick, 

 translucent flesh, although soft and 

 sirupy at the moment of ripening, 

 becomes firm when preserved, just 

 as does that of the Deglet Noor. 

 At the same time, it does not be- 

 come dry and hard after a few 



months, as in most of the dry dates. FlG - ^.-Outlines of Menakher seed and 

 ,. , . , fruit. (Natural size.) 



If preserved with any care, Mena- 

 kher dates keep their shape admirably. Those that were examined 

 and tasted by the writer after having been kept for three or four 

 months in the houses of natives showed themselves to be in all respects 

 equal to the Deglet Noor in keeping quality. As in that variety, the 



a Samples of Menakher and of Deglet Noor dates have recently (December 5, 

 1905) been received by the writer, through the kindness of Mr. Louis Grech, of 

 Nefta, in southern Tunis. A comparison of the two shows that in volume (de- 

 termined by the displacement of water) the former average 15 c. c. and the lat- 

 ter 9 c. c., the Menakher dates being, therefore, one and two-thirds times as large 

 as those of the Deglet Noor variety. They are also about one and two-thirds 

 times as heavy, Menakher fruits averaging 16.76 grams in weight, while Deg- 

 let Noor fruits average 10.44 grams. The percentage weight of the seed to that 

 of the whole fruit (i. e., with the seed) is 10.4 in the case of the Menakher 

 and 9.8 in the case of Deglet Noor. The importance of this character in dis- 

 tinguishing date varieties was first pointed out by Prof. J. W. Tourney. An 

 exceptionally large Menakher fruit weighed 18.7 grams and the seed 1.7 grams, 

 or only 9.1 per cent of the weight of the whole fruit. 

 92 



