21 DATE CROWING 



around base, translucent brownish amber toward 

 apex; bloom slight, grayish. Skin dry, thin, and 

 tender, breaking frequently, coarsely wrinkled and 

 folded, often separating from the flesh except around 

 base. Flesh at basal end hard, opaque, creamy 

 white; toward tip changing to translucent brownish 

 amber, of solid consistency, one-fourth inch thick. 

 Seed small, oblong-elliptical, blunt or rounded at 

 base and sharply pointed at apex, five-eighths to 

 three-quarters inch long, one-fourth to five-sixteenths 

 inch broad; smooth; light brown; ventral channel 

 almost closed, germ pore nearer base than apex. 

 Flavor rich, sweet, and nutty. 



Two allied varieties are distinguished by the 

 Arabs: Asharasi Aswad ("Black") which differs only 

 in color, and Qurret Asharasi, The Coolness (i.e., 

 pleasing freshness) of Asharasi, which has no marked 

 point of difference. There is a widespread super- 

 stition in Mesopotamia that these three varieties are 

 sensitive to the odor of melons, and that if one opens 

 or eats a melon under such a palm the dates will 

 all fall to the ground within a few days. 



'Ausheh, Aooshet, perhaps correctly 'Aujeh, The 

 Recurving, a rare variety from the Mzab of Algeria 

 which has given good results in the United States. 



'Awaydi, "The Little Big One," a rare Busreh 

 variety which many consider the best there, for its 

 mild, delicate flavor as well as its large size. It is 

 also the slowest to come into bearing, offshoots 

 yielding nothing for from eight to fourteen years, 

 according to Arabs. The date ripens about October 

 1st. and must be well cured, when it packs excellently. 



