YIELDS OF OLIVES OBTAINED. 



31 



very early in the morning these baskets are loaded upon camels and 

 are thus transported to the factory. When received there they are 

 placed in shallow cement tanks without covers and are left exposed 

 to the weather for three or four days. This renders them soft and 

 permits the extraction of the oil with much less pressure than is 

 required when freshly gathered fruit is put into the presses. 



The olives are sold both in the orchard and at the factory at so 

 much the " kaffiz," an Arab measure containing about 136 gallons. 

 The ordinary price paid per kaffiz at the factory is $13 to $15, which 

 is an advance of 10 to 20 per cent on that paid for fruit on the tree. 

 The price of a kaffiz of olives varies as much as $4 during a single 

 season. In 1899 it rose to $20, and even $22, at the factory. 



YIELDS OBTAINED. 



The rapidity with which the orchards come into bearing depends 

 largely upon the thoroughness of the cultivation given them and the 

 degree of skill used in pruning. While well-tended trees sometimes 

 bear a little when only 3 years old, neglected trees do not begin to 

 yield until they are 12 or 15 years old. As a rule it is eight to ten 

 years from the time of planting before any considerable quantity of 

 fruit is produced. Well cared for trees that are 10 years old are con- 

 sidered to be worth $3 to $3.50, the value increasing to from $5.70 to 

 $7.60 for trees 15 years old and from $9.50 to $13.30 for trees 25 years 

 old. When they reach the age of 25 years the trees are generally in 

 full bearing. According to one authority, however, the yields con- 

 tinue to increase up to the agre of 40 years. Minano-oin a gives the 

 quantities of fruit and of oil from trees of different ages as follows : 



Table IV. — Average yields of fruit and of oil from olive trees of different ages 



in the orchards of Sfax. 



Age of tree. 



Tield of 

 fruit. 



Yield of oil. 



Percentage 

 of weight 

 of fruit. 



Absolute 

 quantity. 



Tears: 



8_ _ - 



Gallons. 

 5.3 

 10.6 

 15.9 



Per cent. 

 15 

 15 

 20 

 25 



Gallons. 



0.8 

 1.6 

 3.2 

 5.3 



10 



15 — - — — - - - 



20 — - 



21.2 



It is evident from the data given in Table IV that not only the 

 total yields of fruit and oil but the percentage of oil to fruit by 



a Minangoin, N. Culture de l'Olivier * * * clans le Centre de la Tunisie, 



Tunis, 1900, p. 16. In the original the quantities are of course given in liters, 

 not gallons. 

 125 



