DATE CULTURE IN EGYPT AND THE SUDAN 11 
from Birket el Haggi around through Belbis, El Qurein, Facous, 
and Salhieh — approximately the "Land of Goshen" of the Old 
Testament accounts. 
Apparently this variety has been cultivated and highly esteemed in 
this region for more than a century, for Wilkinson (08, vol. 7, p. 
Jp63) lists "Bellah Aamree from El Korayn," and Wilkinson is cited 
by Martius (10, p. 259) as follows: " Balah Aamri, quae e Korain in 
urbes Aegyptlacas importatum." 
This strip of country gets the last Nile water on the eastern side 
of the Delta, and there are extensive districts where well water is 
developed either to supplement the canals or as the main supply. The 
soil generally has an excess of sand, blown in from the bordering 
desert, and the climate gains considerable heat from proximity to 
the desert dunes. The high humidity and the liability to fogs from 
the coast render the drying of dates rather precarious. This has led 
to the development of the interesting drying yards of pebbles 
described under "Harvesting and packing." 
DESCRIPTION OF THE AMRI DATE 
[Notes made at Roma Plantation, near Birket el Haggi, October 6, 1921 (see outlines, 
fig". 2)] 
Stalk &% feet long to first strands; slender, only 1% inches broad at base, 
1 inch at head ; fruiting head 10 inches long, slender ; strands slender, proximal 
20 to 22 inches long, apical 14 to 15 inches long. The proximal strands are 
naked for 12 or 15 inches at the base. The fruits are from 1% to 2% inches 
or rarely 3 inches long and 1% to 1% inches in diameter, with the greatest 
thickness one-fourth of the length from the base, tapering to an obtuse apex. 
The form is irregular and generally unsymmetrical. 
While these dates have considerable sweetness, they lack fine flavor and have 
considerable cottony rag at the center. However, their large size and attrac- 
tive appearance secure a quick market for them, and London wholesale dealers 
state that while they last they compete with the Moroccan Tafilet. 
The success of this variety in a region of relatively low temperature and 
high humidity undoubtedly lies in the fact of its rather fibrous nature, having 
a sufficiently low moisture content to insure against fermentation even in this 
moist climate. The Amri variety may prove of importance in the more humid 
date regions of the United States. While distinctly second class as to quality, 
its packing properties, together with size and appearance, might advance it 
several points in the scale. 
THE BARAKAWI DATE 
CULTURAL EXTENSION 
The planting of the Barakawi date, a valuable dry variety, has 
been so greatly stimulated in Dongola Province in recent years that 
it is now impossible to procure offshoots from the trees at any price. 
Upon a special request from the United States Department of Agri- 
culture, however, in the spring of 1922, through the good offices of 
Sir Herbert Jackson and the kindness of the governor of Haifa 
Province, in which the Sukkot district is located, a special messenger 
was sent into that district — which, as has been shown, was probably 
the original home of four choice Sudan varieties — and 50 offshoots 
each of the Barakawi, the Bentamoda, and the Gondeila were 
brought down to Wacli Haifa by camel transport and dispatched to 
Giza. 
