DATES OF EGYPT AND THE SUDAN. S5 



In December The retail price of the Siwah in the native markets of Cairo was 1 

 piaster per rotl, while at the same time in the best fruit and provision stores, patron- 

 ized by European customers, there was an active trade in the Algerian Deglet Noor, 

 in fancy packages labeled "Dattes Mtiscades, " at prices the equivalent of 5 piasters 

 per rotl. From samples of Siwah dates obtained from private sources, carefully 

 selected and packed for home use, the writer is convinced that the first quality of 

 dates, packed in a modern and attractive way, would be competitors with the Alge- 

 rian dates on at least an equal footing and would be the choice of many people of 

 refined taste. Of course, not all of the Siwah crop could be converted into a first- 

 class pack under the best of conditions, but a sufficiently large proportion, with 

 proper methods, could be brought up to the first quality to make the difference in 

 price between 1 piaster and 5 piasters per rotl run into a good many thousand pounds 

 sterling for a year's output. What the French in Algeria and Tunis have done to 

 improve the date output of those countries, what is recently being done with the 

 dates of the Persian Gulf region, ought, not to be beyond accomplishment for Egypt 

 with such dates as the Siwah and the Saidy for a foundation. 



A question of nomenclature comes in here which is rather typical of the whole 

 date situation in Egypt, and arises from the habit of the people of giving to a date 

 the name of the locality from which it is brought, as "Wahi" for any date from the 

 oases, "Yemeny " for dates from the Y r emen district of Arabia, etc. 



In the shipment of date offshoots received by Mr. Fairchild in 1901, through Mr. 

 Em. C. Zervudachi, of Alexandria, one lot, given the S. P. I. No. 7632, was labeled 

 "Oga de Bedrichen" and in some of the lists this name became transformed into 

 "Oga de Bedreschen." Two trees under the above number and one received with- 

 out a label were recognized by the writer as identical, and careful notes were made 

 of the leaf and fruit characters, all of which were strongly marked and characteristic. 



As no such name occurred in any of the published lists of Egyptian dates, there 

 was naturally considerable interest in the true identity of so conspicuous a variety. 

 Consequently, on arriving in Egypt one of the writer's earliest excursions from Cairo 

 was to the native village of Bedrashen (variant spellings, "Badrashen" and "Badre- 

 shein"), a prominent date growing and shipping point on the west bank of the Nile, 

 about 10 miles above Cairo. It is the stopping point for excursionists to the historic 

 site of ancient Memphis and Sakkara, and perhaps no spot in the Nile Valley has 

 witnessed more of the glory of ancient Egypt than this. At the present time there 

 are no more magnificent date groves to be found in Egypt than those that surround 

 this town, Ilauamdiyeh, and a number of other villages between Bedrashen and 

 Gizeh. The soil is a rich sandy loam, capable of producing heavy crops of general 

 produce, and maize is frequently grown beneath the date trees (PI. Ill, fig. 2). Going 

 out among the date growers and inquiring for a variety named Oga de Bedrashen, 

 brought the unvarying response that they knew of no such variety. They had only 

 Siwah and Arnhal , a few llamrawi, and some "balady," their name for dates of local 

 origin, or seedlings. On looking over their gardens the young trees of the Siwah had 

 a familiar appearance, and a later visit gave time for ihe study of the leaf and fruiting 

 characters in detail. Only one conclusion could be reached -the variety we had 

 received under the name of "Oga de Bedrichen" is no other than the Siwah, ihe 

 leading variety of the Bedrashen and Bauamdiyeh district and the chief packing 

 date of Upper Egypt. The tnudirieh of Gizeh has '1:55,000 taxed date trees, and at 

 a rough estimate 100,000 of them are of the Siwah variety. With the exception of a 

 few trees thai are being planted in Fayum, there seems to be little known of this 

 variety outside of Gizeh Province, and within i bat ii is chiefly eon lined to ihe Heel inn 

 south of Gizeh station and to a districl on the west side of the valley and north of the 

 mid . Of iiH origin or the date of Lta introduction into this district, nothing 

 could i<e learned. The name al once suggested an introducl ion from the oasis <>i' that 



