72 DATE VARIETIES AND DATE CULTURE IN TUNIS. 



does not thrive well so near the sea. The fruit is the largest and 

 finest produced by any variety of the dry date class. This, indeed, 

 can be regarded as a connecting link between the dry dates and some 

 of the firm-fleshed type of soft dates (Khalt Horraowia, Khalt Mooa- 

 shem, etc.). Horra dates ripen in September and October. The 

 flesh becomes quite solid in the ripe fruit, but is never extremely 

 hard and dry. It has the characteristic nutty flavor of the dry dates, 

 but is much richer than most of them. It is at its best only when 

 perfectly mature. Europeans who are acquainted with this date 

 praise it highly. Du Paty de Clam a pronounces it a " rival of the 

 Deglet [Noor]." The commandant of the French garrison at Kebili 

 likes it better than the Deglet Noor, and gives it the preference over 

 all other varieties for planting in his garden. Not only is it highly 

 esteemed by the natives, but it is said to be exported to Europe and 



even to France. The caid of Kebili 

 ranks it among the seven best-keep- 

 ing varieties of the Nefzaoua. It is 

 a medium earty sort, ripening in the 

 latter part of October. The palms 

 have not a very vigorous look, yet 

 they appear to be resistant to alkali 

 in the soil and to thrive with less 

 irrigation than such varieties as 

 Deglet Noor and Fteemy. Forty- 



PIO. M.-Out.inHo seed d e ; ght offsh(X)ts rf ^ variety ^ 



imported. Nearly all of these were 

 obtained in the Nefzaoua, as in the Jerid offshoots are scarce and the 

 natives are reluctant to part with them. 



KENTA (p. 97). A date of the dry type (PI. X, fig. 2), 1J to 1J 

 inches long, about one-half as wide, narrowed from the middle or 

 above it to the broad apex, dull bay colored when ripe, much of the 

 skin loosened in large blisters in the ripe fruit, the flesh 1J to 2 lines 

 thick, the seed somewhat more than one-half as long as the fruit, 

 rounded at both ends, light brown. (Fig. 15.) The leaves of this 

 variety are rather broad, with numerous long, narrow leaflets. The 

 long leafstalks are spiny only near the base. The light orange stalks 

 of the fruit clusters are stout and horizontal or ascending, and so 

 short that with the bunches they do not equal the leafstalks. The 

 clusters themselves are short, thick, and densely crowded with fruit. 



This is one of the most highly esteemed and most widely grown of 

 the dry dates found in Tunis, and is said also to occur in Algeria. 

 While abundant in the Jerid, it is relatively much more important 



o Etude sur le Djerid, Bui. Geogr. Hist, et Descr., No. 3 (1893). Separate, 

 issued in 1894, p. 12. 

 92 



