10 
BULLETIN 1157, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
FIJU1T OF THE AMHAT DATE 
Notes descriptive of a bunch of fruit purchased near Giza October 4. 1921. The bunch 
with stalk and strands weighed 19 okes, or about 52 pounds. (The oke equals about 
2% pounds, i 
The fruit stalk to first strands was 30 inches long and 1% inches broad: 
the slender fruiting head 9% inches long: shamrokh. or strands, one-eighth 
to three-sixteenths of an inch in diameter: proximal strands 14 to IS inches 
long : apical S to 10 inches. The basal 8 or 10 inches of the longer strands is 
naked, the fruit closely crowded on the outer portion, with 25 to 32 fruits 
on one strand. There was a total of 64 strands on this head. These characters 
give the Amhat bunch a short and unusually broad outline. Most of the 
fruits are 1% inches long, a few as short as 1% and 1% inches, being seven- 
eighths to 1 inch in diameter. (Fig. 1.) As maturity approaches the first 
ripening color tones are close to a "deep honey yellow" or "Isabella color" 
( R. XXX). 9 deepening to near "sepia" (R. XXIX). The color of the sun- 
Fig. 1. — Outlines of Amhat dates in the rutab (fresh) stage from Cairo, 
Egypt, September 24. 1921. (Natural size) 
exposed portions of stalk and strands is " ocherous orange" (R. XV). The 
sun-exposed fruit, mature but hard, is between "light orange yellow" and 
"deep chrome" (R. III). The first ripening tone is near "yellow ocher " (R. 
XT), but more waxy. The colors "buckthorn brown" to " Prout's brown" 
(R. XV) follow rapidly when there is a thick brown sirup beneath the thin. 
brittle skin, and the flesh is soft and luscious. The fruit ripens very gradually 
and unevenly, and each tree has to be climbed and picked over several times. 
The color of the ripe seeds is close to " amber brown " (R. III). 
These dates are grown on heavy Nile bottom land. It seems likely that on 
sandy loam and in a hotter, drier climate — Tempe. Ariz., for example — the 
fruit would possess greater sugar concentration and make a successful packing 
date. Here (in Giza) the Amhat is the sweetest and most popular of the 
varieties eaten fresh, and only a small proportion of the crop is packed. It is 
regarded by the Giza growers as more profitable than the " Sewi." as they call 
the Saidy, and the shoots command a higher price. Though fresh Amhat 
dates appeared here about September 15, more than half the crop is still on 
the trees at this date, and it will last about through the month. 
THE AMRI DATE 
REGION OF CULTURE IN EGYPT 
The culture of the Amri date, the one export variety of Lower 
Egypt, is practically confined to the Delta borderland on the east. 
In this and succeedin.i: color descriptions reference is made to plate numbers in 
Ridgway (18). 
