DATE CULTURE IN EGYPT AND THE SUDAN 
21 
Within 100 yards of where the above-described specimens were 
collected there" were many trees of what appears to be the nor- 
mal type of the Hayany, with fruits up to 2% inches in length, 
which seemed to be suffering 
but little from the humid con- 
ditions. <^ > - 
LARGE, LATE-RIPENING TYPE 
As late as October 11, 1921, 
when nearly the entire Hayany 
crop of the El Marg and Birket 
el Haggi districts had been mar- 
keted, a large basket of dates, 
apparently Hayany, was brought 
into El Marg from some distance 
back in the country. This fruit 
was still in the characteristic 
rutab condition, hard and brittle, 
with the true carmine coloring. 
Its striking size at once arrested 
attention, and two of the largest 
specimens were selected for de- 
scription, which follows: 
The larger fruit was 2% inches 
long, 1% inches broad, strikingly ob- 
lique. The large, coarsely corrugated 
seed had a broad shallow ventral fur- 
row, but with the germ pore wholly 
wanting (fig. 5, A). The second speci- 
men (fig. 5, B) was 2y 2 inches long, 
l 1 /^ inches broad, and quite symmet- 
rical, with a smoother seed, but again 
with the germ pore wanting, a char- 
acteristic which has occasionally been 
noted in other varieties. 
A LATE-RIPENING FORM FROM ALEXAN- 
DRIA 
[Notes made at El Marg, December 7, 1913] 
In El Marg, the center of one 
of the most important Hay any- 
producing districts of Egypt, but 
with the trees long since cleared 
of their crop, these dates were 
found in the market, just in from 
Alexandria. In contrast, Hay- 
any dates from El Marg, prob- 
ably grown at Birket el Haggi, were observed in the bazaars of 
Alexandria, September 2. 
Representative fruits of the lot above noted were described as 
follows : 
Fruit 2 to 2% inches long, 1 to lj% inches broad, the broader portion a little 
nearer the base (some fruits slightly unsymmetrical and curved), the taper 
toward the apex gradual and the apex broadly rounded. The unripe or 
rutab color is a dull "carmine'' or close to "nopal red" (R. I), with blotches 
like "ox-blood red*' (R. I). In ripening, the color drops through a shade near 
"Hays maroon" (R. XIII) to a dull unattractive brown, nearly black, but 
nearest to "seal brown" (R. XXXIX) or "aniline black" (R. L). 
Fig. 4. — Outlines of small-fruited types of 
Hayany dates from El Marg, Egypt, Sep- 
tember 26, 1921. (Natural size) 
