Xu-K"*}     11*  Date  Tree  and  its  Products.  409 
of  a  fresh  almond,  which  it  resembles  in  flavor.  This  edible  cabbage 
of  the  date  tree  is  in  great  request. 
In  addition  to  the  foregoing  interesting  article,  the  following  fur- 
ther particulars  are  added  respecting  the  date  and  its  products,  by  the 
Editor  of  the  Journal  of  Applied  Science. 
There  are  some  varieties  of  dates  which  ripen  and  decay  on  the 
tree,  and  of  which  the  pulp  is  leathery  and  doughy,  but  the  more  com- 
mon become  soft  and  sweet.  The  date  ought  to  be  gathered  while 
still  firm  and  sour,  and  ought  to  be  placed  into  heaps  in  order  to  un- 
dergo fermentation  to  soften  them.  The  different  kinds  of  fresh  dates- 
most  often  seen  in  the  Cairo  markets  are  the  early  red  dates  (balah 
hayany)  and  the  yellow  sweet  dates  (balah  ama'ai).  The  date  has 
from  two  or  six  to  twelve  or  fourteen  spadices.  But  when  they  are 
too  numerous,  it  becomes  requisite  to  remove  some  in  order  that  the 
tree  shall  not  be  weakened  or  thrown  down  by  the  weight  of  the 
bunches,  and  the  fruit,  being  too  numerous,  would  not  be  of  such  good 
quality.  Four  hundred  weight  of  dates  have  been  gathered  from  one 
tree.  In  no  country  is  the  date  so  productive  as  in  Egypt.  The 
date  does  not  always  produce  a  good  crop  ;  it  usually  happens  that 
after  a  very  large  one,  the  next  year  they  only  produce  a  medium 
quantity,  very  often  only  but  a  small  yield,  and  sometimes  none  at 
all.  There  are  a  great  many  varieties  of  the  date,  which  differ  in  the 
size,  form,  and  quality  of  the  fruit.  By  color  it  may  be  divided  into 
three  classes — the  red,  yellow  and  white.  Those  coming  from  Upper 
Egypt  and  the  Oasis  are  the  most  esteemed.  They  ripen  in  Upper 
Egypt  about  the  end  of  June,  while  in  Middle  and  Lower  Egypt  they 
are  a  month  or  six  wTeeks  later.  The  country  from  whence  the  date 
originally  came  is  not  well  known.  The  Arabs  say  it  originated  in 
Arabia  Felix.  It  grows  spontaneously  in  Egypt,  and  seems  to  have 
naturalized  itself  there  from  the  most  ancient  times.  In  the  towns — 
Cairo  for  example — there  are  date  trees  between  the  houses  and 
around  the  mosques,  or  in  gardens,  the  trunks  of  which  are  sixty-five 
feet  high.  The  highest  in  Cairo  was  near  Kair-Nil,  and  measured 
eighty-five  feet.  It  was  so  high  that  the  wind,  by  dint  of  bending  it, 
overthrew  it  altogether  two  years  ago,  and  thus  the  patriarch  of  date 
trees,  which  was  remarked  by  the  scientific  men  who  accompanied  the 
Eastern  army  under  General  Bonaparte,  and  which  was  about  two 
hundred  years  old,  finished  its  existence.  The  date  is  found  all  over 
Egypt,  and  produces  excellent  fruit.  According  to  Strabo,  they  were 
