March i, 1888.] THE TROPICAL 
tiori is practised by attaching mile flowers to the 
female bunches, more frequently male treei are plant- 
ad with females: one male to two or three females, 
and at a little distance from them." 
10. There is a notion that the date-tree is unsuite I 
to a damp climate, and that it can only ripen fruit 
when its roots get into sub-soil water and its head 
remains in a dry, heated atmosphere. This notion 
may have arisen in two v/nys— first, because the date-tree 
may have (irst been known only under such conditions, 
ami being iutimately associated with Arabs, who inhab- 
ited regions mostly under such conditions ; second, be- 
cause the lest varieties of dates, the choice ones of 
European markets, are those probably grown under 
such conditions. But it does not at all follow that an 
edible and vory nourishing and useful date cannot be 
grown under totally different conditions. 
11. In passing recently through Egypt, I saw along 
the railway a number of date-trees with their fruit 
only lately gathered, with their roots and water still 
lying on the land from the recent inundation of the 
Nile. Moreover, in Egypt, the date-tree has been associ- 
ated with man from a very remote period. In the 
book called " Vi& Cornwall to Egypt," by C. F. Gordon 
Gumming, at page 137, I find the following :— " In the 
time of the Romans the Egyptians gave receipts for 
taxes on fragments of tiles: about 1,600 years ago. 
A number of them are receipts for payments of poll- 
tax, cattle fan, palm-tree torn, &c. One receipt for a poll- 
tax is dated A. D. 10:i-104," . . . " After the 
conquest of Assyria, l,5n0 years before Christ, large 
quantities of bitumen were paid in tribute to the 
Pharoahs, and with this the mummies were thenceforth 
prepared. The bodies of the poor were merely saturat- 
ed with natron or bitumen, baked in an oveu, swathed 
in woollen tags, end then tied up in a rough mat of 
palm leaves or 'papyrus.' Thus, they were laid in 
rows of thousand in the great sepulchres." In Egypt, 
theiefore, we have n >t only the annual regular rising 
of the Nile, inundating more or less the whole country 
on both its banks, but also the date-palm known 
there for hundred*— perhaps thousands — of years be- 
fore the Christian era. It is in Egypt, therefore, 
if anywhere, that we ought to find evidence of this 
useful tree having, in the course of ages, suited itself 
to almost two diametrically opposed conditions of life. 
In order to obtain soma pro if of this, I wrote to the 
Head of the Public Works Department of Egypt for 
information on the date-tree of Egypt. Major Ross, 
K.E., of the Indian Irrigation Department, very kincly 
issued aoirculartoa number of officials, who were in 
a position to afford information on this matter, giving 
the questions which I had sent. Oolonel Moncrieff, 
with his letter dated 15th Juno, 1MI7, very courteously 
forwarded all the notes collected to me, and added a 
memorandum of his owu on each, regarding the reli- 
ability, oarefulness, and power of observation of the 
sender. The officials who collected this information 
are — 
Mr. Biuncardi, for many yoari Traffic Manager of 
the Railway, and a great horticulturist ; 
Beehara Takla Beg, a Syrian Editor of a well-known 
Arabic newspaper; 
A man of the Domains, a very practical native; 
Mr. E. W. P. Foster, of the Beugal Irrigation Depart- 
ment, a most careful and painstaking officer, whose 
statements are pretty sure to be the result of close 
inquiry; 
Mr. Marihtitl lieuat, ou engineer of a good many 
y»ars' residence in Egypt. 
Dr. Harvey, of the American Mission, an old resident 
in Egypt ; 
Wilton Hey, a shrewd Scotch Mechanical Engineer : 
h* has hail many years' experience of E^ypt : 
Captain H. M. Brown, R. A'., of the Ueng«l Ir- 
rigation Department, a careful and accurate man ; and 
Mr. Arnold Vrrry, a young Kuglish Kiigiuui-r. 
19, Colouel Scott Moncrieff, K. K., Und. r Secre- 
tary of State, Public Works Department, Egypt, in 
forwarding the above notes, and in reply to a 
question of miuo, states:—" The Nile rises with 
wonderful regularity in duly. In September it is over 
u*»rly all the couulry, atiainiug its maximum m 
AGRICULTURIST. 589 
Cairo about 15th October, after whi'm it goes down 
very fast, and the inundation is over early in No- 
vember." It should bo ueted that from July to 
November is exactly the period in which the dates 
swell, colour, and ripen, an 1 all those date-trees 
which happen to be on inundated ground have not 
only their roots under water, but are surrounded 
by a damp atmosphere, from the immense sea of 
water which the Nile makes. I should say during 
that period, which is the hottest of the year, the 
atmosphere would be similar to that of the North- 
western Provinces of India in the rains, if not 
generally more damp. 
13. In order to avoid repetitions, I shall here 
give only a resume" of all the notes received. All 
say that the best dates are produced by trees on 
dry laud, which is irrigable, and sometimes also ou 
trees which are close to the desert ; that some 
of the best kinds of dates are g own ou sindy lands, 
which can be irrigated when required ; that those 
ou low lands, to whioh water nas access, are not 
bid, but they are not so good as the foregoing, and 
that whether the air and soil are dump or dry 
makes little difference. In the latter case, they should 
be irrigated as often as necessary. The trees planted 
in Rosetta, Aboukir, Ramleh, and Gabbary are all in 
a damp atmosphere, an 1 bear also good qualities of 
fruit. Mr. Foster says that "in Rosetta the be^t kinds 
are Zaghlqul (ted) and Samuni (yellow), cultivated on 
high sandy hills. The roots are probably in moist soil, 
as the spring level is high after lloods. These, as a 
rule, are never irrigated. There are, however, lota of 
dates grown ou lower, though sandy soil, which have 
improved very much in quality since the opening of 
the Rosetta canal has rendered irrigation easy. The 
drier the soil with surface irrigation, it appears the 
better is the produc ■. In Gizeh, date-trees are on 
lauds subject to floodiug on the bisiu system. Water 
may remain over the roots of tho trea for 70 days 
without injury ( I) ; a longer period will dtmige the 
produce. It is better, however, to reduce the time of 
inundation. From 20 to 70 days' flooding is ordinary. 
Uule'S flooded, the outturn of fruit is small, aud 
quality is inferior. Three kinds of dates are grown in 
Gizeh, the best of which is Sewi, a yellow variety ; 
Amhat, a very moist kiud, turning from yellow to dark 
brown, when ripe; and Hui/aui, a red variety. Tne 
best dates of Gizeh are grown in yellow clay ; sandy 
soils and ordinary black Nile deposit do not produce 
so good a date." Mr. Biancardi says: — "I have seen 
plantations aocidenially inundated, with their crop 
injured. Too much water is not required. We have 
solitary trees in the middle of the canals. Tney look 
healthy, but bear no fruit." He does not, however, 
mentiou whether these solitary trees happen to be 
males or females ; or if the latter, whether tho people 
take the trouble to fertilize them in the midst of the 
caual : solitary tree9 can be found uuder the most 
favourable conditions, and still remain fruitless. Dr. 
Harvey says: — "Date-trees are sometimes inundated 
for one to three mouths, and that the trees are not iu- 
jured by excess of water ; aud that trees on iuuu lated 
ground produce uiost and best. On this point, however, 
some say that there is little difference whether the 
trees are inundated or uot, a dry soil aud a dry atmos- 
phere are not essential to the production of a crop of 
dates." 
14. Without taking into consideration the fact that 
the d ito-trees iu O i lb hive undoubtedly pro luoed 
very fine fruit, it appears to me evident from the re- 
plies sent from E,'pyt, that, although a dry climate 
and soil, even where irrigation is difficult, will perhaps 
produce the best date, which will dry on the tree, mid 
become the most suited for long keeping aud for export- 
ation, a damp soil and atmosphere — nav, an excess 
of these condition'' — will not only, as a rule, uot injure 
the date-tree, b it will produce an odible and valuable 
crop. There can hardly be auy doubt that iu the 
thousindsm years duriug which the datu-troit has been 
a«s'>oiite,l with man iu Egypt, different kiud* have 
come into uxistoucu, soiuo of which aru suited to a 
dry soil and atmosphere, ami lamo to condition* 
which we exaggeratedly M revorto of the above. It 
