"كتيّب سوريا (بما في ذلك فلسطين). لندن: إدارة استخبارات الأركان البحرية، يونيو ١٩١٩" [ظ‎‎١‎٣‎٤] (٧٣٨/٢٧٣)

262
AGRICULTURE
the beginning of November, and is made into oil, the better
qualities being used with food and the inferior qualities in
the manufacture of soap. The berries when gathered are
dark green or black according to their species. In Damascus
the best black variety is known as dan and the best green
variety as nwdasami. Other species, which are made into
soap, are jeMt, tuff it hi, and suri. The same names in different
localities do not always denote the same varieties.
Rameh, near Safed, is distinguished for the productivity
of its trees and the quality of its olive-berries (Aaronsohn).
The berries of Nablus are said to give from 20 to 30 per cent,
of their weight in oil, compared with the 10-20 per cent,
that is usual elsewhere (Ruppin). The yield of oil per tree
in Lebanon is said to be 12-20 gallons (G. M. Mackie). The
crop of a mature tree in a good season is given by Ruppin as
10-20 oqqahs (12|-26| kilos) and by Weakley as 12-15 oqqahs
(35-42 lb.). In modern plantations 100 trees are planted on
each hectare (2J acres). Olive-trees live and bear well to
a great age.
Mulberries {and Silk Cocoons)
Of the two species of mulberry tree, white and black, the
white only is cultivated to produce leaves for the rearing of
silk worms. It is grown for this purpose on the coast from
Saida northwards and especially in the Lebanon district.
Ducousso 1 estimates the area covered by mulberry trees in
the Lebanon district to be 14,000 hectares, and the ground
on the coast, chiefly in the kazas of Tripoli and Ladiqiyeh
and exclusive of the territory of Lebanon, to be 4,500 hectares.
The area similarly occupied in the interior (chiefly in the
Biqa‘ and the plain of Ba'albek and the slopes of Jebel
esh-Sharqi) is only 1,760 hectares. For the vilayet of Aleppo
Ruppin’s figure is 75,000 dunams (6,800 hectares). It has
been an advantage to the rearing of silk worms in the adminis
trative district of Lebanon that the cocoons have not been
1 A. Ducousso, U Industrie de la Soie en Syrie, Paris, 1913.