BULLETIN OF THE BUSSEY INSTITUTION. 373 
No. 18.— On the Composition of Date Stones; and of the 
Stones of Peaches and Prunes. By F. H. Storer, Pro- 
fessor of Agricultural Chemistry. 
Ir is a matter of familiar observation that the stones of the ordinary 
edible date, from the palm Phenix dactylifera, are extremely tough 
and hard, and that their outward appearance gives little indication that 
they possess any value as food. Yet it is well known through the 
reports of travellers that date stones are often employed as fodder by 
the Arabs. ‘Thus, for example, Burckhardt * states that “ The people 
of the Hedjaz, like the Egyptians, make use of the leaves, the outer 
and inner bark of the trunk [etc., of the date palm]; and, besides this, 
they use the kernels of the fruit as food for their cattle: they soak them 
for two days in water, when they become softened, and then give them 
to camels, cows, and sheep instead of barley; and they are said to be 
much more nutritive than that grain. ‘There are shops at Medina in 
which nothing else is sold but date-kernels; and the beggars are con- 
tinually employed in all the main streets in picking up those that are 
thrown away. In the province of Nedjed the Arabs grind the kernels, 
for the same purpose; but this is not done in the Hedjaz.” 
So, too, Richardson | remarks that “The very stones [of the date- 
palm] are split and pounded to fatten all animals here” [at Ghademes 
in the Sahara]. 
It has occurred to me that an important lesson for those farmers 
who have not yet familiarized themselves with the significance of 
chemical analysis as a means of indicating the values of fodders might 
be drawn from the analysis of date stones, since it would be hard to find 
any other substance equally familiar whose outward appearance gives 
so little promise of its real worth. ‘There are probably very few things 
used as fodder that are so little likely to be understood or valued aright 
if one were to judge from appearances merely. 
For the.sake of contrast I have had analyses made of peach and 
prune stones also: that is to say, of the hard covering or shell of the 
* Burckhardt, J. L., “ Travels in Arabia.” London, 1829, 2. pp. 211, 212. 
Tt Richardson, James, “Travels in the Great Desert of Sahara.” London, 
1848, 1. 343. 
