DATE CULTURE IN EGYPT AND THE SUDAN 53 
Giza district were more than 60 feet in height, with Amhat, said to 
be of the same age, TO to 80 feet high. (Fig. 8, A-JS.) But a tree 
50 or 60 feet high calls for the climber with his gathering basket. 
For gathering the Saidy fruit a basket is used much narrower and 
deeper than that for the Amhat, but it has the same stiff rim of hoop 
stuff to keep it open. (PL 9, B.) As the dates reach their deepest 
orange color before beginning to turn brown and soften, the climber 
strips them from the shamrokh (strands) into his suspended basket, 
usually leaving the calyx intact. The filled baskets are quickly 
loAvered to the ground and emptied into other baskets to be taken 
to the drying yard, women and girls often in this way carrying 3 
pecks or a bushel of fresh dates a quarter of a mile on their heads. 
The drying yard is prepared by inclosing a level space of about 
a tenth of an acre with a high fence of arundo or maize stalks. 
(PI. 10, A.) The more progressive growers lay down wide bolts of 
sedge-stalk matting, upon which the dates are spread about 2y 2 inches 
deep, fully exposed to the sun, and turned once in three or four days. 
Much interest attaches to a knowledge of the temperatures to 
which these dates are exposed during the 12 or 14 days of curing. 
Data heretofore published (13, p. 27-32) warrant the following state- 
ment : 
The mean temperature of Heluan, the nearest Egyptian weather station, for 
the month of October is 75° F., with a mean maximum of 84.6° and a minimum 
of 64.4°. Under full sun exposure the maximum would approximate 100°, 
but the mean for the full day is difficult to estimate. The 75 per cent of relative 
humidity for October at Giza would probably be approximately correct for 
El Hawamdiya and Bedrashen, where dew-point and morning fogs are very 
common at this season. These figures would point to slow maturation at 
moderate temperatures and rather high humidity as being better for the Saidy 
than higher temperatures and quicker action. 
When ready for the pack, a large basket of coarse date-leaf braid 
is let into a hole dug to fit carefully its sides. A stout rope is passed 
beneath it to aid in lifting the heavy load when the basket is filled. 
The owner or the head gardener, with his horny-soled feet bare, as 
they usually are, steps into the basket, and his helpers bring the 
ripened dates in bushel carrying baskets and pour them in around his 
feet (pi. 10, B). The mellow and now somewhat sticky dates are 
very thoroughly tramped into a solid, air-tight mass, sealed with the 
slightly exuding sirup. The pressure against the sides of the hole 
keeps the basket in shape and prevents unduly stretching the rather 
weak braid. When filled to slightly rounding, the basket with its 
300 or 400 pound weight of dates is pulled up, and a cover of the 
?ame spirally sewn braid is stitched on. 
One by one these final products of the season's operations are 
ranged along the side of the yard and jealously guarded, day and 
night, until the buyer from Cairo comes to bargain for the crop. 
When the time comes to move them to the railroad, they are almost 
as hard as so much concrete. There can be no doubt that the slow 
curing which goes on inside this air-tight mass differs decidedly 
from the curing of a single-layer or a two-layer pack in a paper 
carton. 
Aside from the insanitary handling and the lack of cleanliness, 
according to American ideals, the quality of this fruit, after an 
enzymic action has been in progress for 60 or 90 days, is unsurpassed. 
