THE CLASSIFICATION OF DATES 169 



sold in the markets of Algeria are disgustingly soft 

 and sticky, but under the skilful care of an intelligent 

 planter they can be turned out firm and unobjection- 

 able. The same thing is true of the Ghars, or any 

 other soft date that might be mentioned Let no one, 

 then, condemn a date because he has heard it called 

 soft and sticky, since it is the packer's fault, not the 

 date's. 



Again, the presence of fibre or "rag" about the 

 seed is an objectionable characteristic, but it depends 

 largely on the stage of maturity at which the date 

 was picked, and even, sometimes, on the age of the 

 tree. The first Manakhir dates produced in the 

 United States were excessively stringy, but this defect 

 has been becoming less with each successive harvest. 

 Samples of a date described by one man may be 

 fibrous, while those seen by another observer may be 

 perfectly unobjectionable. One should be slow in 

 drawing conclusions on this point. 



The flavor and quality of dates is a point on 

 which it is dangerous for any man to pronounce 

 judgment for others. Of course, some dates can be 

 unhesitatingly declared good and others bad, but 

 between good dates it is impossible to lay down any 

 binding decision. One man likes Deglet Nur better 

 than any other date because of its fine flavor; another 

 says that he does not like dates anyhow, and prefers 

 Deglet Nur to any other because of its lack of flavor. 

 Therefore, if one says a date is of good quality, that 

 is all that can be expected; the investigator must not 

 take any opinion beyond that without a good deal of 

 reserve. 



The characteristics of the seed are fairly constant, 

 and form one of the most useful means of determining 



