18 BULLETIN 1125, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
The fruit 13 is 1£ to If inches long, seven-eighths of an inch to 1 inch broad, 
blocky, with broad square base rounding to a broad obtuse apex. The skin is 
rather coarsely wrinkled both longitudinally and transversely and partially 
loosened from the flesh. The darker portions of the flesh have a translucent 
appearance and are nearest to "liver brown" (R. XIV) 1 * in color, with a 
delicate lavender bloom. 
A basal zone of about one-fourth the length of the fruit is a "tawny olive " 
(R. XXIX) and is opaque in appearance. The flesh is three-sixteenths of an 
inch thick, firm, slightly granular, somewhat sticky ; an outer zone of one-third 
of the thickness is of the exterior color, while the nearly transparent inner 
portion is close to "olive ochre" (R. XXX), with a little more suggestion of 
green. 
The flavor is heavily sweet, rich, and a little cloying, but of the quality usually 
sought after by date purchasers in this country. After being packed seven 
months the quality is in no way impaired, and where not reached by weevils 
these dates would sell as well as at Thanksgiving time. No variety has 
been tried that stood the test better. 
The seeds are five-sixteenths of an inch to 1 inch in length, three-eighths of 
an inch broad, smoothly rounded, the germ pore nearly central, the ventral 
furrow narrow and shallow, the color close to "tawny olive" (R. XXIX). 
The fruits, packed in paper boxes and rather dry, averaged 35 to 40 to the 
pound. The percentage of seed weight to the total weight of fruit is 11.6, a 
ratio too high to mark this date as of absolutely first quality, yet with its other 
good qualities a great deal can be allowed in this respect. 
These fruits ripen in the heat of the Libyan oases in October. Whether 
they will find sufficient heat for their perfection in any portion of the United 
States outside of the Salton Basin is perhaps doubtful. Temperature records 
of only one of these oases have been kept. A record of seven years at Dakhleh 
(Table I) shows a mean annual temperature of 74° F., which is slightly higher 
than that of Palm Springs, Calif. ; and for the growing months of February to 
October, inclusive, a mean of 78.40° F. The summation of heat units is about 
the same as that of Tuggurt (Tougourt) in Algeria, which suggests about the 
same temperature requirements as for the Deglet Noor. This indicates that 
this variety may be expected to reach maturity in the United States only in the 
heat conditions afforded by the Salton Basin of California or in the hot lower 
portion of the Colorado Valley from Needles to the Mexican line. 
This variety, as seen by the writer, is the great export date of Khargeh and 
Dakhleh Oases, and Sheik Abu Bakr, of Dakhleh, is authority for the state- 
ment that it is the chief date of the entire chain of oases of the Libyan Desert, 
from Siwah at the northwest, which lies about 400 miles southwest of Cairo, 
through Baharieh, Farafreh, and Dakhleh to Khargeh, the most southeasterly, 
lying 120 miles due west of Luxor. 15 
They have together an extreme north to south range of about 300 miles 
through a practically rainless region of dry air and intense desert heat. Siwah 
is said to be 78 feet below sea level. The other oases of the chain lie at eleva- 
tions ranging from near sea level to three or four hundred feet above. Only 
Khargeh has railway connection with the Nile Valley; from the other oases 
the dates reach the Nile Valley by camel caravans commanded by Bedouin 
traders who buy the entire export crop of the desert people at their gardens. 
The common occurrence of this date as the leading variety of the widely de- 
tached oases, while it is unknown in the Nile Valley, 16 suggests that they have 
had it in possession a long time, perhaps dating back to a period when al- 
legiance to the Egyptian Government was not acknowledged and when com- 
munication was much more free and regular by the desert trails between the 
oases than that between the oases and the Nile Valley. 
In the enumeration of the taxed date palms of Upper Egypt for 1907 the 
oasis of Baharieh is credited with 98,996, Dakhleh with 106,344, and Khargeh 
13 Notes made near the Temple of Nadurah, Khargeh Oasis, Oct. 8, 1913. 
*■* Described from fruit packed in cartons at Sheik Abu Bakr's, Rashida, Dakhleh Oasis, 
Oct. 18, 1913. 
15 Siwah is approximately 25° 30' east of Greenwich and in 29° north latitude. Ba- 
harieh is crossed by the meridian of 29° and lies just north of 28° latitude. Farafreh 
lies close to the intersection of the meridian of 28° and the parallel of 27°. Dakhleh 
lies about equally on either side of the meridian of 29° and at about 25° 30' north lati- 
tude. Khargeh lies with its greatest extent north and south about 30° 40' east and 
from 24° 30' to 26° north latitude. 
ia Unless the Siwah of Gizeh Province proves to be identical 
