68 BULLETIN 1457, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
palms — still in immature stage, but with occasional groups of the 
earlier plantings beginning to take on trunk heights of 20 to 30 feet 
and lifting their crowns above the level of deciduous gardens. 
With an average height increment of more than a foot a year up 
to 40 or 50 years of age, a few ye&rs will see, all over the Coachella 
and Imperial Valleys in California and in the Salt River and Gila 
River Valleys of Arizona, groves and large plantations of stately date 
palms which will impart character and beauty to the entire landscape. 
Railroad companies which are prone to feature the scenic beauty of 
their territory may vie with one another in exploiting the date-grow- 
ing mileage which the tourists may view from their trains. Instead 
of the remark of the disgusted -southern tourist 15 years ago, as the 
train pulled westward from the Salton Sea, " Well, God 'lmighty sure 
did mighty little for this country," the fascinated traveler may 
exclaim that the beauties of the " Garden of Allah " and of the Nile 
Valley have been transferred to what was once the dreaded Salton 
Basin. 
SUMMARY 
Date culture in Egypt and the Sudan extends from north to south 
about a thousand miles, from the relatively cool and humid coastal 
region of Port Said and Alexandria to the extremely hot and dry 
region of the Third, Fourth, and Fifth Cataracts of the Nile. The 
extension of commercial date culture southward is checked b}^ the 
beginning of tropical rains at Khartum. This wide climatic range 
gives rise to an equally wide variation in the date varieties and 
character of the product. 
Economic as well as climatic conditions have led to the develop- 
ment of three well-defined regions of varietal date culture from 
what were haphazard seedling cultures of early periods, leaving two 
regions of great possibilities still in the domain of seedling culture. 
The Nile Delta, excepting limited sections bordering the desert, 
is too cool and humid to mature dates with a sugar concentration 
sufficient for packing, but it produces vast quantities of dates eagerly 
consumed in the fresh (rutab) stage by the people of this densely 
populated region. 
This demand has developed the Hayany variety, known for more 
than a century, into the most important commercial date of Egypt, 
but supplemented by the Amhat, and late in the season by Zagloul, 
Samany, and Bint Aischa. 
Egypt has developed a small export trade in the Amri date, grown 
from an early time along the hotter border of the Delta next to the 
desert, and in recent years packed with considerable care for export 
to England and southern Europe. 
The increased heat of the narrowing valley in Giza Province has 
made possible an important culture of the Saidy date from the 
Libian Oases, in Giza known as the " Sewi." This date, of high 
export quality, has been packed in the crudest manner and wholly 
consumed in Cairo and other cities of Lower Egypt. Varieties best 
meeting the home demand for both fresh and packed dates have 
thus developed in Lower Egypt, including Giza, and make it the 
first region of varietal culture. 
