8 



DRY-LAND OLIVE CULTURE IN NORTHERN AFRICA. 



reach. The roots of the olive run for long distances comparatively 

 close to the surface of the soil, and are thus able to take up the 

 moisture that penetrates a few inches into the ground after every 

 moderate rainfall. The unusual hardiness of this tree is shown by 

 the fact that in many localities in northern Africa where it was once 

 planted it has persisted for centuries without receiving any attention, 

 often running wild and mingling with the native trees and shrubs on 

 the driest hillsides. 



Fifteen hundred years ago southern Tunis was covered with thriv- 

 ing olive orchards, but these gradually disappeared after the country 

 was conquered by the Arabs, so that at the beginning of the last 

 century olive culture had almost died out in that region. A good 

 beginning has since been made in reestablishing it, and to-day 

 the dry-land orchards of southeastern Tunis are the wonder and 

 admiration of olive growers the world over. 



A description of this model arboriculture, of the climatic and 

 soil conditions under which it is carried on, and of the methods used 

 and the results obtained can hardly fail to interest those who are 

 concerned in dry-land agriculture. It is true that in the United 

 States the olive can be a profitable crop only in the warmer parts 

 of the arid and semiarid districts, i. e., in southern and western 

 Texas, in southern Arizona, and in California. But there are other 

 drought-resistant trees that are better able to Avithstand cold and can 

 therefore be grown to advantage farther north. Some of these, 

 although not yet well known in the United States, are of great im- 

 portance in various parts of the world, being grown either for their 

 fruit, for forage, or for timber and fuel. In the drier parts of 

 Europe and Asia there are varieties of our common orchard trees 

 that would probably give better results under dry farming conditions 

 than the varieties ordinarily grown in the humid parts of the United 

 States or under irrigation in the West. An account of dry-land 

 olive culture in Tunis should therefore be useful even outside the 

 olive zone, as it will direct attention to the type of tree and the 

 methods of culture that are likely to give the best results. 



IMPORTANCE OF DRY-LAND ARBORICULTURE IN ANCIENT 



AFRICA. 



Southern Tunis is to-day an arid, treeless waste, almost a desert, 

 covered with a sparse growth of thorny bushes and coarse bunch- 

 grasses. There are no streams of considerable size to furnish water 

 for irrigation, and the average yearly rainfall is small, ranging from 

 8 to 14 inches. In many places a fair crop of wheat or barley can 

 be expected only once in three or four years. This region is now 

 uninhabited, save by a few thousand Bedouins, who wander from 



