142 DATEGROWING 



place to a certain extent in the boxes of dates which are 

 sent from the Algerian or Tunisian Sahara to Biskra 

 or Marseille for packing and export. These boxes 

 are oblong (16x32x64 cm.) and contain both loose 

 dates and dates on the branch. They are carried on 

 camel-back for two to five days, according to the 

 distance of the oasis from the railway. Unquestion- 

 ably the temperature in these boxes is high enough 

 to permit the slow ripening of the fruit. 



"In December, 1911, I accompanied my friend 

 and colleague Dr. Trabut in the oases around Biskra 

 to study the date palms and their diseases. Pierre 

 Osval, manager of the oases El Amri and Foughala, 

 west of Biskra, showed us some boxes of Deglet 

 Nurs. These dates had been put in the box when 

 they showed more or less translucent spots on one 

 side; they were mostly detached, but there were also 

 some in clusters. After eight or ten days in the 

 storehouse, the fruit had become ripe and left nothing 

 to be desired, either for color or for flavor. 



"What Mr. Osval did deliberately takes place in 

 most of the shipments of dates from the Sahara, with- 

 out anyone paying attention to it. The dates must 

 be picked before they are entirely ripe, to have them 

 reach their destination in good condition; they then 

 ripen in transit.* 



"The ripening of dates," Mr. Swingle continues, 

 "must be considered composed of two distinct phases. 

 The first, which one might call ' botanical maturation, ' 

 is accomplished as soon as the fruit reaches full size 

 and has the seed ripe. Dates at this stage are fat 

 and smooth, yellow or red according to variety. 

 They are very astringent and not eatable. 



*Algeria)Q Arabs regularly ripen Kasbeh (El Kseba) in this way. 



