DATES OF EGYPT AND THE SUDAN. 



39 



which it rounds unequally to an obtuse apex (fig. 9). The brilliant and striking color 

 of this fruit is rather elusive when one tries to place it. In some specimens a deep 

 "pomegranate purple" (R. XII) is the most apt description, while others are better 

 described as •''carmine," deepening to "ox-blood red" (R. I). Either on the trees or 

 in the market stalls this date has the most attractive appearance of any Egyptian 

 variety. The skin is thin, and as the fruit ripens it easily slips from the flesh. In the 

 condition usually marketed the flesh, about three-eighths of an inch thick, is crisp, 

 brittle, juicy, sugary sweet, with but a slight astringency. Its color is best described 

 as "maize yellow" (R. IV), but with a zone on the outside of about 2 mm. thickness 

 of a deeper tint. The seeds 

 are large, irregular oblong, 

 roughly corrugated, and usu- 

 ally imperfectly filled out at 

 the base, the germ pore cen- 

 tral, the ventral furrow irreg- 

 ular, but usually shallow and 

 open. The darker parts of the 

 seed are colored "tawny olive" 

 (R. XXIX ), shading to "olive- 

 buff" (R. XL). 



The fruits of the trees in the 

 Gizeh Garden were "ripe," 

 that is, marketable, the first 

 week in November. The va- 

 riety did not appear on the 

 market from the coast region 

 till about November 17. From 

 that time until the middle of 

 December there was a steady 

 shipment, but they did not 

 remain on the market as late 

 as the Samany. It is stated 



Fig. 9. — Outlines of the Zagloul date, two variations, in "rutab " 

 (fresh) condition, on the Cairo market, November, 1913; 

 shipped from Edku, on the Mediterranean coast. (Natural 

 size.) 



that a few of both this variety and the Samany come to the Alexandria market 

 from the cooler spots up the coast nearly throughout the winter. 



Doctor Eisen's paragraph relating to S. P. I. No. 32327, must be based on a good 

 deal of misinformation, both as to locality and time of ripening. This variety does not 

 occur in the Fayum at all, and the few trees in Cairo gardens cut no figure commer- 

 cially. 



SUMMARY. 



Date culture in Egypt and the Sudan is of very ancient origin, 

 extending far buck of the Christian era. The present number of 

 date trees in these countries approximates 9,000,000, with an annual 

 product valued at about $1 per tree. Of these trees, not to exceed 

 one-fourth ;ire of 12 important commercial varieties, the remainder 

 chiefly "balady," or seedling, frees producing fruits of inferior grade 

 commanding low [trices. 



Date culture in the Nile Valley extends with little interruption 

 from the Mediterranean coast to Khartum, a distance of about 1,100 

 nidc-, the longest continuous north and'south extent of date culture 

 m the world. Tin- embraces ;i range in mean annual temperature 



