20 



DRY-LAND OLIVE CULTURE IN NORTHERN AFRICA. 



an improved form devised by a French colonist at Sfax can be guided 

 by a man standing erect with his hands on the bar. 



The importance attached to getting the land clean is shown by the 

 fact that the " nrrharci " contract (see p. 34) is not considered to 

 have terminated until the Bermuda grass has been extirpated. The 

 extraordinary precautions taken to get rid of this weed show how 

 essential clean culture is considered. 



After the land has been cleared of weeds, it is worked less often. 

 To obtain the best results, however, it is necessary to plow at least 

 three times every year, irrespective of the age of the trees. The Arab 

 plow, set to a depth of about 4 inches, is generally used. One 

 authority recommends that the first plowing be given in the winter, 

 immediately after the harvest, in order to loosen the soil that has 



sidered advisable, however, not to plow deeper than 10 inches, to avoid 

 injury to the roots of the trees. In addition, the maacha is passed 

 over the land, especially after a rain in winter, as often as is neces- 

 sary to keep down the weeds and restore the mulch. At least three 

 cultivations a year with the maacha are considered essential. The 

 natives as a rule do all their cultivating with the maacha, using the 

 plow only in preparing the land for seeding to grain. 



It is customary during the winter to keep around each tree a shal- 

 low basin of the depth reached by the Arab plow. This is at first 

 simply the nearly filled up hole in which the tree was planted, but is 

 extended as the tree increases in size, so as to be always a little greater 

 in diameter than its spread of foliage. 



In summer the ground is cultivated up to the bases of the trees, but 

 each autumn the surface of the basins is j:>acked down and made 

 smooth, so as to facilitate gathering the fruit that drops to the ground 



been trampled down in the proc- 

 esses of harvesting and prun- 

 ing. The second plowing should 

 take place in spring, after the 

 trees have blossomed, and the 

 third in August or September. 

 Maity growers, however, omit 

 the plowing in summer, and on 

 some large plantations only a 

 single plowing is given, soon 

 after the harvest is finished. A 

 marked benefit results if the 



Fig. 5.— The "maaclia," the tool used by the Arabs soil is stirred to a greater depth 



with a French plow once every 



two or three vears. It is con- 



125 



