DATES OF EGYPT AND THE SUDAN. 29 
‘““russet”’ to ‘‘Mars brown” (R. XV), with the base close to ‘‘chamois” or ‘‘cream 
buff” (R. XXX). The germ pore is usually placed centrally and the ventral furrow is 
narrow and shallow. 
This variety is of value only as it prolongs the season of fresh dates. 
a 
KOSHA. 
This belongs to the dry-date class, and the fruit only wasseen, and in the dry condition. 
Fruits 14 to 12 inches long, three-fourths to seven-eighths of an inch broad, distinctly 
compressed, oblique and unsymmetrical, sometimes slightly curved, broadest at 
about one-third above the base, tapering rather abruptly to an obtuse apex (Pl. XII). 
The surface, with nearly smooth or slightly wrinkled areas, broken by areas of fine 
longitudinal folds with cross reticulations. The color is somewhat mottled, the darker 
portions being ‘‘bay” (R. II), with an area around the base of “‘sorghum brown” 
(R. XX XIX) and lighter patches of ‘‘clay color” (R. X XIX). 
The fine granular flesh is ‘‘honey yellow” in the darker parts and ‘‘cartridge buff” 
(R. XXX) within. The flavor is remarkably sweet for a dry date, with the usual 
wheaty flavor and no trace of astringency. The quality will rank as excellent. 
The seeds are seven-eighths of an inch to | inch long, about five-sixteenths of an inch 
broad, tapering toward the slightly apiculate apex, often with sharp lateral ridges or 
‘‘wings.’’ The small germ pore is usually about central, the ventral furrow being 
rather narrow and deep. The color of the seeds is nearest to ‘‘wood brown” (R. XI). 
The sample of this fruit was included in a lot obtained at Merowe on the eve of 
departure from Dongola Province. The whole collection was mailed to Washington 
-and the description of the varieties was not made till after the writer’s return. 
This variety is regarded as one of the best dry dates yet sampled, and steps will be 
taken to secure offshoots of it at a later date. 
KULMA.! 
The Kulma date is counted as one of the four chief varieties originally received 
into Dongola from Sukkot country. The leading men of Merowe say that this veel yy 
should not be planted near the 
Nile bank, where its roots will 
get too much water, but farther 
inland, where it will be spar- 
ingly irrigated. 
The only tree seen? had a 
rather short, heavy trunk and 
dense, broadspreading top. The 
leaves are 10 to 12 feet long, with 
stout ribs carrying their size well 
out toward the apex, where there 
is but a slight flexibility. The 
foliage is bluish green with 
heavy waxy bloom. The spine area is 18 to 24 inches, the spines heavy, acute, from 
2 to 7 or 8 inches long, passing to stiff acute spike pinnee 18 to 20 inches long, one-half 
to five-eighths of an inch broad. At about 36 to 40 inches from the base they pass into 
the normal pinnz, which are 16 to 18 inches long and 14 to 13 inches broad. They 
diminish in size but little till near the apex, where the pinne are 10 to 12 inches long 
and 1 to 1?inches wide. The spines and spike pinne are set at divergent and defen- 
Fic. 7.—Outlines of the Kulma date in fresh, ripe condition; 
from the governor’s garden, Merowe, Dongola Province, 
Sudan. (Natural size.) 
1In Burckhardt’s vocabulary of the “Nouba” language, ‘“‘kulma”’ is the transliteration for ‘‘big,’”’ and 
the name may be descriptive of the size of this variety. (Burckhardt,J.L. Travelsin Nubia. Ed. 2,p. 
145. London, 1822.) ; 
2 Only two offshoots were secured of this variety. One, from the tree in the Mudirieh Garden at Merowe, 
from which the description was made, was the gift of Col. H. W. Jackson, governor of Dongola Province, 
The other was the gift of Omda Mohammed Ahmed Ibrihim. 
