SAIDY DATE OF EGYPT. 33 



This fuiigus was observed by the writer on the leaves of the Saidy 

 and other varieties of the date in gardens in the section near Bed- 

 rashen in upper Gizeh, where the Saidy fruits heavily and is ma- 

 tured and packed in great quantities. Through the kindness of 

 Thomas W. Brown, director of the horticultural section of the Min- 

 istry of Agriculture at Gizeh, the following communication was 

 procured from the director of the meteorological service of the 

 ministry of public works, physical department, under date of March 

 21, 1921 : 



Our records show that at Gizeh on an average the temperature falls below 

 the dew point on 20 days in each of the months September and October, caus- 

 ing fog at some time of tlie early morning. We have no records for the 

 Hawamdia district itself, and though it is not likely to be very different from 

 Gizeh, I think that the fogs would be of rather less frequent occurrence there. 



The evidence of these Egyptian weather records, confirmed by the 

 presence of this fungus, is that the Saidy date will mature without 

 loss with the relative humidity of the ripening months at from 68 

 to 75 per cent and with the frequent occurrence of dew point and fog. 

 From this we may safely conclude that the occasional dew points of 

 the Imperial Valley in California during the ripening season need 

 not be feared for this variety. This information is of the highest 

 importance, for it opens up to the culture of the Saidy date a vast 

 area in the Imperial Valley of California and in the lower Colorado 

 Valley of both California and Arizona, where the culture of the 

 Deglet Noor has proved hazardous on account of dew-point condi- 

 tions during the ripening season. 



