70 BULLETIN 1457, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGKICULTURE 
ribs into the many forms of useful crates and packages for which 
there is so great a demand? 
Date varieties differ widely in their rate of height growth and the 
ultimate height they may reach. Opportunity was offered in Egypt 
to record the height and approximate rate of growth of more than 
200 date palms of diverse ages and of four leading varieties. The 
curves of growth rate based on these measurements are the first of 
the kind ever offered for publication. 
In Egyptian elate culture the tree-climber's craft attains almost the 
dignity of a profession. With forests of palm trees 50 to 75 feet 
in height to be pruned, pollinated, and their fruit harvested, t he- 
growers simply could not do business without the tree climber. He 
trusts his life daily to his beautifully hand-woven climbing girdle 
and rope, made from the date-palm's own fiber. He is the aristocrat 
of the fellaheen. 
American date palms are passing the stepladder stage of height 
growth in rapidly increasing numbers. Shall it be " every man his 
own tree climber," or will a new profession arise to afford a safety 
valve for the athletic trend of the age? 
A group or an avenue of lofty date palms has a beauty all its 
own and sounds the keynote for every landscape of which it is a 
part. 
The crude mud-brick " esbet," or village, of the Nile is redeemed 
from utter ugliness and squalor by even a few feathery-topped palms 
seen against a glowing sky. The majestic sweep of a Cairo boulevard 
along the Nile bank owes its charm to the groups of bordering palms. 
LITERATURE CITED 
(1) Belgrave, C. D. 
1923. SIWA, THE OASIS OF JUPITER AMMON. 275 pp.. illllS. LoiHlOIl. 
(2) BtTRCKHARDT, J. L. 
1822. travels in nubia. Ed. 2, 498 pp., illus. London. 
(3) Brown. T. W. 
1916-17. the date palm in egypt. Agr. Jour. Egypt, 5 (1915) : 63-79: 
6 (1916) : 18-38, illus. 
(4) Cailliaud, F. 
1826-27. VOYAGE A MEROE, AU FLEUVE BLANC ... A SYOUAH ET DANS 
CINQ AUTRES OASIS; FAIT DANS LES ANNEES 1819, 1820, 1S21, ET 1822. 
4 vols., illiis. [Paris.] 
(5) Delchevalerie, G. 
1872. l'arbre national des egyptiens. le dattier . . . Bui. Fed. 
Soc. Hort. Belgiqne, 13 (1871) : 159-174. 
(6) Dowson, V. H. W. 
1921-23. DATES AND DATE CULTIVATION OF THE 'IRAQ. Mem. Agl*. Dil\ 
Mesopotamia, III, 3 pts., illus. 
(7) Dumichen, J. 
1877. die oasen der ltbyschen wuste . . . NACH der berichten IJEK 
ALTAEGYPTISCHEN DENKMALER. 34 pp., illUS. Stl'aSSblirg. 
(8) Edmonstone, A. 
1822. A JOURNEY TO TWO OF THE OASES OF UPPER EGYPT. XV, 152 pp., 
illus. London. 
(9) Edwards, A. B. 
1899. a thousand miles up the nile. 499 pp., illus. London. 
(10) Martius, C. F. P. de. 
1833-50. historia naturalis palmarum. vol. 3, illus. Lipsiae. 
