PURE AND IMPURE FOODS. 



Edited by C. F. Langworthy, Ph..D. 

 Author of "On Citraconic, Itaconic and Mesaconic Acids," "Fish as Food," etc. 



"What a Man Eats He Is." 



DATES AND DATE GROWING. 

 The United States Department of Agri- 

 culture has for a number of years been in- 

 terested in introducing the date palm into 

 the United States, and has recently pub- 

 lished a bulletin by David G. Fairchild 

 dealing with Persian gulf dates, which re- 

 cords information gathered during an ex- 

 tended journey through the date-growing 

 regions of the East. 



The valley of the Euphrates is said to be 

 the birthplace of the date palm. Whether 

 this is true or not, it is certain that no- 

 where else in the world are more favorable 

 conditions for the cultivation of the date 

 to be found than along the shores of the 

 Persian gulf and in Lower Mesopotamia. 

 According to Mr. Fairchild, "the Persian 

 gulf date region is doubtless the largest in 

 the world and furnishes the greatest part 

 of all the dates sold in the American mar- 

 kets. Two million cases, or over ioo mil- 

 lion pounds of dates, have been exported 

 in a single year from the principal ship- 

 ping port ; and at a moderate estimate there 

 must be not less than 15 to 20 million date 

 palms in this great territory. This strip of 

 forest varies in width from less than a 

 mile to over 3 miles, and more than 5,000,- 

 000 trees, it is estimated, are packed into it. 

 There is certainly nothing comparable to 

 it in the world, either as regards size or 

 the ease with which it can be irrigated. 



"Date growing in Arizona is rapidly 

 passing the experimental stage. The fact 

 that this fruit could be grown there, how- 

 ever, was first called to the attention of 

 the public by the success of a number of 

 chance seedlings which bore good crops of 

 fine fruit. The seeds from which these 

 seedlings were raised came probably from 

 Persian gulf dates, since these are the most 

 common ones in our markets. The excel- 

 lence of the fruit from these seedlings and 

 the fact that they ripened early made it 

 seem probable that the Persian gulf dates, 

 as a class, might prove on investigation to 

 ripen earlier than those of North Africa, 

 and therefore be better suited to the short, 

 hot seasons in Arizona. 



"Packing dates for shipment is an impor- 

 tant branch of the date industry. Scarcely 

 any of the packing firms own date planta- 

 tions but obtain their dates from the Arab 

 land-owners through trusted Arab buyers. 

 Some of these buyers who have been in the 

 business many years are intrusted with 

 iio,ooo to £20,000 in cash at a time, with 

 which they buy the tons of dates that are 



necessary to supply the packing sheds. As 

 in most businesses of this kind, there are 

 risks to be taken, for the packer must buy 

 in August and sell in November, during 

 which time the price may have fluctuated 

 considerably. It requires good judgment to 

 decide how much to pay in August for No- 

 vember delivery. The New York ship- 

 ments to be most profitable must be in be- 

 fore Thanksgiving day, and when this 

 comes unusually early in the month, the 

 packers have their hands full to get their 

 shipments through in time." 



Judging from Mr. Fairchild's account, 

 improvements in the methods of packing 

 are to be desired. "Dates are no doubt one 

 of the stickiest and most difficult fruits in 

 the world to keep clean, and the Persian 

 gulf varieties are particularly hard to pack 

 in an attractive shape ; nevertheless, the 

 stories one hears in the region, of the con- 

 ditions in the packing sheds and the per- 

 sonal uncleanliness of the men, women, and 

 children who put up the dates, are enough 

 to disgust a sensitive person and to prevent 

 his ever eating packed dates again without 

 having them washed. No old inhabitant 

 thinks of eating a date without first thor- 

 oughly washing it in a glass of water, un- 

 less the cook has prepared it beforehand, 

 and the sale of dates in America might fall 

 off decidedly were it generally known how 

 intimately the unwashed hands, bodies, and 

 teeth of the notably filthy Arabs often come 

 in contact with the dates which are sold 

 by every confectioner." 



The following statements regarding the 

 date as a food product occur : "The doc- 

 tors seem agreed that sweet things in ex- 

 cess are injurious to the digestion, and the 

 dentists claim that sugar ferments between 

 the teeth, forming lactic acid which attacks 

 the dentine; but for all this, it is doubtful 

 if there can be found a sounder, stronger 

 race, with better digestion and finer, whiter 

 teeth than the date-eating Arabs. The 

 town Arabs and the Arabs of the seacoast 

 eat quantities of dried fish and other sea 

 animals, but the denizens of the Arabian 

 desert live almost exclusively on dates and 

 bread, with occasional feasts of sheep, goat, 

 or chicken. Travelers across those deserts 

 report that 3 pounds of dates and a few 

 thin loaves of hard wheat bread a day will 

 keep an Arab in good health for years. 

 The quantity of these packed dates that a 

 healthy Arab can consume at a sitting is 

 astonishing. Two pounds would not be 

 much more than an ordinary meal. The re- 



