BY T. MORRIS MACKNIGHT, P.Ii.S. 
9B 
Habitat. 
The habitat of the date is North Africa, Arabia, Persia, 
Eg} 3 )t, Nubia, Syria, and it does not go further east than 
ihe mouth of the Indus. It is indigenous in the Canary Isles ; 
wanting in the south of Senegal, and it no longer appears in the 
Oasis of Darfur, between the 13deg. and 15deg. of lat. ^ e 
zone in which it grows w^ell in general is that betw^een 3o eg. 
and 19deg. north. According to Link (Die Urwelt., I., p. ^ 
flowers freely in the south of Europe, as in Sicily, the 
and the south of Spain; and also bears fruit there, thoug ^ 
not sweet. In Sicily it still growls at 1700ft, namely at erno 
and Treeastagne on Etna, but it probably does not bear Iruit on 
this island— (Philippi on Vegetation of Etna, “ Linn^ea,” vo . h 
p. 731). It needs 5100deg. F. of heat accumulated during eig i 
months for the date to ripen its fruit perfectly. ^ ° 
the heat be less the fruits set, but they do not grow to their u 
dimensions ; they also remain bitter to the taste, anc ac ' ^ 
of tlie sugar and albumen, to which they owe their nu ri 
properties. The requisite conditions are realised in le a lar 
The mean temperature of the year there averages rom _ 
TGdeg., according to the locality. The heat commences in Apul, 
and does not cease till October. Keith .Johnston s 
Atlas ’’gives the temperature in summer and winter as Juj, 
81deg.to86deg.; January, 52aeg. to Gldeg. ; mean tempera- 
ure (annual), G8deg. to 7Gdeg. Biskra, _ 
TOvhg autriol in North AMo., i.inl.t SUeg. 
not r it tret tonords the hot tropicel south. »<l “ 
,-„«u„h..„S 0 «th. north side. IV“"'r,‘”T8dTl Z 
»,.tare of C8-5deg. “‘’t , f'* “ 
hennometerseUo,,, sinks in the cold f" f 
..1..- freesing i>oi,tt. ...d the d.te e.n end.ue Odeg host. 
, , T P fUo RA‘i is unfavourable to the pro- 
The neighbourhood of the ‘ , r .i r-antral di-- 
1 P I The <^eneral altitude of the central ai. 
luction of good dates. Uie ^ 
tricts of North Afnca. wheie ' level to 
Date Palm also grows m some ... 1 au.l Tigris 
600ft. The lower portions ot tne u 
in Turkey are from sea level to GOO t. ,, i ;« 
f iu-il rainfall requisite for the best dates is 
™,e ot ,, ,„utie. front 10i«. !» 
from 5m. to lOin. , toi tuL& 
•'-O' ’ 
the celebrated date* 
