Show DATES AND DATE TREES something about the fruit of ali desert of the oasis in the macd ris consists mainly of palm trees sheltering other trees there are more than six hundred and sixty thousand palm trees and about one hundred thousand fruit trees the date palm is the great nutritive product and feeding medium of alie sahara without it the plains would be everywhere desert fortunately it requires for its perfect maturity and alie prime quality of its fruit those conditions that the sahara possesses torrid heat in summer and intense dryness of the air it thrives in the most arid soil but it most have water and plenty of it at the roots and it is says the new york ledger the singularity of the sahara aptly called the land of thirst that it conceals treasures of irrigation and eliat it is only on those spots eliere alie treasure may be easily obtained that the clusters of palms are found the delicate transparent date known as is the choice fruit fetching the highest price it is at all times the rarest chaverine its nature from one regions to another and being more alian any other dependent upon the character of the soil and the climate where it grows the remaining varieties although numerous may be divided into two classes which are compressed between goat skins and sold in the arab markets and are consumed by the poorer classes and the dry dates of which the no mads slip a few dozen in the folds of their bougous bou for their daily consumption the cheaper kinds are almos entirely disposed of in the country and are not considered worth exporting like other harvests alie date gathering is subject to vicissitudes and fluctuations and prices vary |