LABOR IN OLIVE ORCHARDS. 



35 



to bear sufficiently to pay the current expenses of the orchard, i. e., 

 for about ten years. At the expiration of the contract the m'rharci 

 receives in remuneration for his services one-half of the area planted. 

 This arrangement has the advantage of retaining in the neighbor- 

 hood a number of skilled laborers upon whom the proprietor can 

 generally depend for the care of his part of the trees after the con- 

 tract has terminated. 



The division of the trees between the proprietor and the m'rharci 

 is made by drawing lots, under the supervision of the amins, who act 

 as agricultural magistrates, and whose duty it is to settle disputes 

 between employers and employees. It is said that the amins, al- 

 though themselves always natives, are generally fairly impartial in 

 regulating differences between Europeans and their m'rharcis. The 

 proprietor generally seeks to have the plantation divided in such a 

 way that the holdings of his former tenants will be scattered among 

 his own. Many of the m'rharcis prefer, however, to receive money 

 for their share of the trees. 



At the beginning of the contract a sum amounting generally to 

 30 or 40 cents for each tree is advanced by the proprietor, to be used 

 by the m'rharci in purchasing the necessary animals, tools, etc. The 

 loan, which bears no interest, is repaid when the agreement ends, 

 usually in trees from the m'rharci's share. The proprietor furnishes 

 the land, while the m'rharci contributes the truncheons that are 

 planted, the tools and animals used, and all the labor required in 

 clearing, planting, and cultivating. A single m'rharci generally 

 plants and cares for from 150 to 300 trees, while if he has a family to 

 aid him he can sometimes handle as many as 600. He requires one 

 camel for plowing and cultivating every 25 acres. The entire product 

 of the field crops grown in the orchard during the first few years is 

 the property of the m'rharci, unless, as often happens, the proprietor 

 furnishes one-third of the seed used, in which case he is entitled to 

 from one- fourth to one- third of the crop. It is estimated 6 that under 

 this system it costs about $1.40 per tree to set out an olive orchard and 

 care for it until it is 10 years old. 



Until recent years, decidedly better results were obtained under the 

 contract s}^stem above described than when the proprietor directly- or 

 through a European foreman undertook to establish an orchard ; but 

 the former method is becoming every year more expensive. Many 

 of the best native growers now have trees of their own to care for 

 and are no longer willing to bind themselves out as m'rharcis. The 

 m'rharci no longer finds on the land to be planted an abundance of 

 old trees from which truncheons can be obtained, and these must 



a See Bui. 92, Bureau of Plant Industry, p. 32. 



b Minangoin, N. L'Olivier en Tunisie, Tunis, 1901, pp. 59 and 68. 



125 



