SAIDY DATE OF EGYPT. 15 



the Tamar, while producing a heavier crop than the other kinds, yields fruit 

 of comparatively poor quality, which is on that account almost entirely used 

 for home consumption * * *. The fruit exported from the oases, being 

 entirely disposed of in the native markets of the Nile Valley, is packed and 

 sewn up without any special care in palm-leaf baskets. For local use small 

 quantities of. selected fruit are frequently preserved in a moist state in earthen- 

 ware jars. 



No offshoots under the name " Wahi " were ever imported for 

 planting in this country. 



IMPORTATIONS OF THE SAIDY DATE UNDER VARIOUS NAMES. 



The first offshoots of the Saidy date secured under that name were 

 received July 26, 1904, through H, A. Eankin, of Fayum, Egypt, 

 who acted under instructions from David Fairchild, Agricultural 

 Explorer of the Department of Agriculture. Mr. Rankin arranged 

 with a Greek merchant, who was going into Baharia with a trading 

 caravan, to bring these shoots. Of a lot numbering 29, there were 15 

 shoots of the Saidy variety. These were given S. P. I. No. 11485, 

 as recorded in Bureau of Plant Industry Bulletin 97 (Inventory 

 No. 11), issued March 15, 1907. 



In February, 1905, Mr. Rankin, under instructions from Mr. Fair- 

 child, made a journey from Alexandria to Siwa Oasis, where he pur- 

 chased 114 offshoots, comprising six varieties, of which 42 offshoots 

 were of the Saidy variety. These were received in New York on 

 March 23, 1905, and the " Saydy " offshoots were listed in Inventory 

 No. 11 under S. P. I. Nos. 15215 and 15220. 



In October, 1901, the Department of Agriculture had received 

 through Mr. Fairchild, from Em. C. Zervudachi, a Greek merchant 

 of Alexandria, a consignment of offshoots of six varieties from Lower 

 Egypt, which included several labeled " Oga de Bedrichen, "^ which 

 were designated S. P. I. No. 7632. Three trees of this lot can still 

 be identified in the cooperative Date Garden at Tempe, Ariz. They 

 are in no wav to be distinguished from the Saidy trees from 

 Baharia and Siwa procured by Mr. Rankin. In 1910 the writer pre- 

 pared a general description of the character of these " Oga de 

 Bedrichen" trees at Tempe, Ariz., which is here quoted from his 

 unpublished manuscript notes. 



OGA DE BEDRICHEN, S. P. I. NO. 7632 (28). 



Trees of vigorous growth with very thick trunks and long, stiffly outcurved 

 leaves, which give the mature top a spread of about 80 degrees. The very 

 broad, thick leaf bases have a clear exposure of 12 or 15 inches below the 

 first spines and taper gradually to the heavy rib, which is strongly rounded 

 dorsally and has wide lateral faces. The rib diminishes steadily to a quite 

 slender apex ; the outcurve is mostly made at the base, the body of the blade 

 being rather stiff, but with graceful flexibility at the top." 



A summing up of the leaf characters discloses, first, a lower leaf armed 

 with powerful spines set at very effective angles for defense; second, a broad 

 blade due to the rather long pinnffi and strong axial spread of the tntrorse and 

 retrorse pinnse classes, with a deep valley of the antrorse pinnse through the 

 broader part of the blade ; but in the outer 3 or 4 feet all classes spread out 



• The spelling " Bedrichen," is retained to designate the trees grown from this consign- 

 ment. The place name is " Bedrashen." 



M For a manual of the terms used in describing date-leaf characters, see " Botanical 

 Characters of the Leaves of the Date Palm Used in Distinguishing Cultivated Varieties," 

 Bulletin 223, United States Department of Agriculture, by the writer of this bulle- 

 tin (SI). 



