36 DRY-LAND OLIVE CULTURE IN NORTHERN AFRICA. 



frequently be purchased for him by his employer. Furthermore, the 

 m'rharei now expects his employer to advance him 40 cents or more 

 instead of 20 to 30 cents per tree at the beginning of the contract. 



But, notwithstanding the increasing expense, the contract system 

 still has decided advantages. Europeans who have planted and cared 

 for orchards by hiring laborers under their direct supervision rather 

 than by contracting with a m'rharei have generally found their ex- 

 penses heavier and the work — especially that of getting rid of weeds — 

 less efficiently done. Besides, they lose the advantage of having 

 around them, when their trees begin to bear, a number of their former 

 m'rharcis, skilled and trustworthy men with whom they have been 

 accustomed to deal and who are usually willing, for moderate wages, 

 to continue the cultivation of their old employer's orchard as well 

 as of their own. 



Some of the large plantations belonging to nonresident Europeans 

 are managed by a French agent or foreman under contract for a cer- 

 tain period (generally ten years). He receives a small salary ($30 or 

 $40 a month) and is entitled, at the expiration of his contract, to a 

 certain percentage — usually one-eighth or one-tenth — of the land 

 planted in olives. He in turn either hires laborers or else contracts 

 with native tenants or m'rharcis for the planting and cultivation of 

 the orchard. It is said that an orchard established under the super- 

 vision of a competent foreman will yield sufficient fruit after eight 

 years to pay all or most of the running expenses. 



The cultivation of the orchard after the m'rharei contract has ex- 

 pired is carried on either by reengaging the m'rharei, in which case 

 he receives one-third or one-half of the crop produced, or else by 

 hiring day laborers. In the latter case it usually costs the owner 18 

 cents per tree annually to have the cultivation and pruning done. 

 If paid by the day, a laborer earns from 40 to 50 cents when engaged 

 in cultivating or plowing. With a camel he can plow 2|- acres in 

 two or three days and can cultivate the same area with a " maacha "' 

 in one day. For pruning, which requires special skill, a man re- 

 ceives about 60 cents a day. The crop, as we have seen, is generally 

 gathered under contract by the purchaser, the harvesters being 

 usually paid with a share of the fruit. 



UTILIZATION OF THE RUN-OFF IN OLIVE CULTURE IN OTHER 



PARTS OF TUNIS. 



Olive orchards occupy large areas in northern Tunis, notably 

 in the neighborhood of the capital itself and in the valley of the 

 Mejerda, the principal river of Tunis. In this region the annual 

 rainfall a is sufficient for olive production without any special meas- 



a The average annual rainfall at the city of Tunis is 18.S inches. 

 125 



