28 



DRY-LAND OLIVE CULTURE IN NORTHERN AFRICA. 



MANURING. 



Chemical fertilizers are not used at Sfax, and even the application 

 of barnyard manure is rather the exception than the rule, although 

 it is admitted that a marked increase of yield can be obtained by this 

 means. Domestic animals are few in the Sfax region, and in the 

 extensive orchards recently planted by the French on the edge 

 of the olive-growing district manure is often almost unobtainable. 

 Some of the richer natives who own the older orchards near the town 

 are better situated in this respect. 



The first application of manure is said to be generally given when 

 the trees are 10 to 12 years old, and thereafter is repeated every four 

 or five years at the rate of 100 to 200 pounds to the tree. The manure 

 is buried near the foot of the tree, the following method of putting it 

 in being recommended by the manager of one of the large French 

 plantations : A trench about 6 feet long, 2 feet wide, and 2 feet deep 

 is dug on the uphill side of the tree, about 6 feet distant from its 

 base, and is filled with well-rotted mixed barnyard manure. For- 

 merly the manure was buried around the tree at its very foot, a prac- 

 tice that frequently injured the bark of the crown. 



PRUNING. a 



One can not visit the older olive orchards around Sfax without 

 being impressed by the symmetry of the trees and the uniformity in 

 size and shape of their tops. This regularity is due to the great 

 care that is given to the matter of pruning. Certain of the natives 

 who are adepts at this work and can prune on an average eight or ten 

 trees a day receive 60 cents a day for their services. The cost of 

 pruning is partly and sometimes fully covered by the value of the 

 wood removed in the process, firewood being scarce and dear in that 

 region. The larger branches are removed with a saw and the smaller 

 ones with a pruning hook, care being taken to make clean sections. 



From the time the trees are three years old until they begin to 

 bear they are trimmed a little every year, just enough to give them 

 the proper shape. Severe pruning of the young trees is avoided, as 

 it interferes with the proper development of the root s}^stem, upon 

 which so much depends in the dry climate of Sfax. During the 

 first two or three years it is considered inadvisable to prune the root 

 shoot that has been selected to form the trunk, as otherwise it will 

 grow up rapidly into a spindling, little-branched stem. When the tree 

 is three years old the terminal shoot is cut off, and the first four 



a Much of the information contained in this section is taken from Minangoin, 

 N., L'Olivier en Tunisie, Tunis, 1901, a publication that has been freely 

 consulted in preparing the chapters on cultural methods. 

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