Although 



nor 



22 AGRICULTURAL AND BOTANICAL EXPLORATIONS IN PALESTINE. 



Ficus pseudo-sycomorus. — This species is not very abundant. It 

 grows on the edges of cliffs and at the entrances of caverns in the 

 desert, and it is especially resistant to drought and alkali. I do not 

 know that it has ever been tried as a stock, but I do not hesitate to 

 recommend it for introduction and experiment. 



Ficus sycomorus. — This tree (see figs. 5 and 6) deserves our atten- 

 tion. It is a native of India and grows all along the Palestine coast 

 as far north as Beirut. It is very drought resistant, and in southern 

 Palestine grows to a considerable size. Its wood is highly valued 

 on account of its great density and the size of the trunks. It is 

 used particularly to make sledges for thashing. But it is the use of 

 the fruit as forage which should make it of value for certain parts 



of the United States. 

 it is of in- 

 quality, it is 

 eaten by the 

 Bedouins. The tree 

 yields very abundantly, 

 the fruit covering all 

 of the old branches 

 and even the trunk. It 

 has several successive 

 flowering periods, and 

 the Arabs say that the 

 " Djemeiz " gives seven 

 harvests a year. The 

 quantity of fruit 

 yielded by a single 

 tree is simply incredi- 

 ble, and the fruit, 

 which is tolerably rich in sugar, would be in arid regions an excellent 

 food supply for sheep and hogs. The tree grows Avell on dunes. 



fe 



greedily 



Fig. 5. — Fig tree (Ficus sycomorus) near Jaffa, showing- 

 its unusual resistance to drought. The roots are laid 

 bare by the wind, and the branches on the windward 

 side are checked in development by constant and strong 

 sea breezes. 



At the present time date cultivation in Palestine is not of any 

 great economic importance. But this has not always been the case. 

 In biblical times Jericho, in the valley of the Jordan, about 600 to 

 TOO feet below the level of the sea, was called the " City of Dates." 

 At the beginning of the Christian era, when Tiberias and its environs 

 were the Kiviera of that time and when the princes and princesses 

 of the Orient went there to spend the winters, the city of Magdala 

 was celebrated, not only for its establishments for cleaning and dye- 

 ing the valuable costumes of its noble visitors, but still more for the 

 delicious early dates which it produced. 



To-day the cultivation of the date in the valley of the Jordan is of 

 no importance whatever. Only the village of Abadieh still has a 



180 



