the way in which this influences their decisions to cultivate vines,
herbs, shrubs and trees. Proprietors grow trees and most tenants
do not. Tenancy is an underlying cause of great insecurity in
farming. The uncertainty of cultivating trees on rented land is
simply the possibility that one will be able to harvest and enjoy
the fruits of one's labor. Tree cropping is a major investment,
both in terms of the period of time before the trees become pro-
ductive (and have to be "carried"), and the period of time over
which they remain productive. The cultivation of trees indicates
planning for a lifetime. After years of labor, and just at the point
of benefiting, access to the land and all that has been invested in
it might cease.
 To illustrate some of the points I have mentioned so far, I
would like to present the perspective of two tenants on a
1,700-acre estate in eastern Jamaica and their attitude toward
wild pimento seedlings that spring up in their rented fields. The
pimento tree produces a crop of great value to small farmers in
Jamaica.
 Mr. Mac's cultivation, largely for household use, was primarily
devoted to root crops and included some bananas, sugarcane and
beans. Scattered through the field were coconut trees planted by
the estate, three pimento trees, a grapefruit tree, a jackfruit tree,
a mango tree and a clump of bamboo. The pimento trees were
the result of seedlings that sprang up in Mr. Mac's field and were
saved. The first year they bore a good crop; Mr. Mac harvested
four pounds. He said the estate did not trouble him because the
trees were young. During the second season he had already col-
lected eight pounds when he was stopped by the estate. "Sake of
dat," he said, "whenever me see dem (the wild pimento seed-
lings) me chop dem down." For Mr. Mac, the pimento tree was
transformed from a valuable economic crop plant to a weed. As
he explained, "Me have plenty young tree but me no care dem
again; me no worry wid dem again."
 Unlike Mr. Mac who is more typical of other tenants, Mr. Ben
is unique in being the only tenant to consistently plant and pro-
tect fruit trees on rented land. Wise, generous and hard-working,
he is always described as "de boss of farming." One of his early
schoolmates describes him as "a tough working man." Whenever
I asked people of the district about farming, I was always in-
structed to talk to Mr. Ben; everyone described him as "a real
farmer," one who studied farming and planted everything. Mr.
Ben did not allow his position as a tenant to prevent him from
engaging in the most productive farming practices, and for Mr.
Ben this definitely included the planting, saving and transplant-
ing of trees. Mr. Ben was determined to put farming first by
farming productively and he was willing to grow trees despite the
conflict with the estate that would result from his effort to harvest
the fruits of his own labor. Here, in his own words, Mr. Ben tells
of one episode in his ongoing confrontation with the estate over
the fruits of pimento trees that he had saved. When I asked him
if he had harvested pimento from the trees he cared for, he said:
 Fe years. Nuffnuff years. All de property a run jos-
 tle wid me fe come bruck dem. But me got better
 brain more dan dem. All me deh ya with me mule
 load of pimento out de me two hampa black,


 Buckley the ranger man come deh, 'Mr. Benny yuh
 reap pimento?' I say yes! (Me a man no fraid or fear
 yuh know; me a dangerous worker). And him a go
 round, him a go round and da look, look, look pon
 dem. And dat was one day. About three or four
 days after dat the two hampa black again and me
 deh pon top ofde mule. Burger him come now (a de
 pimento dem a watch yuh know), hear Burger to
 me, 'But Mr. Benny, yuh a reap pimento. 'And me
 seh yes, but (hear the lie me go tell him now), me
 seh but eh me leave pimento tree here Saturday
 (because me no come a bush Sunday day) and when
 me come Monday morning me see man bruck
 pimento all 'bout all 'bout. But no man no bruck
 none, a lie me a tell (laughter) All right. Him seh
 here him to me (now yuh know pimento carry
 strong smell, so him smell it. Dat time the two ham-
 pa load and me cover dem down with plastic). Hear
 him to me 'All now yuh have pimento in deh. 'Me
 seh yes! See me two hampa black ya. Me two hampa
 black, because me no care a me plant dem. See
 pimento pon de tree deh; see pimento deh. From
 now till next week me a bruck dem.
 In this paper (particularly in my remarks concerning Mr. Mac
 and Mr. Ben), I have tried to show that trees are important to
 Jamaicans and to indicate the social reasons why small farmers
 choose not to plant them and to destroy wild seedlings (like the
 pimento) that spring up in their field. In our effort to develop
 farming in Jamaica and elsewhere in the Caribbean, we need to
 know the ideal physical requirements for the most successful
 cultivation of plants, but we must also understand the social rela-
 tionships within which decisions are made to grow or not to grow
 certain plants. It is the social relationship between people that
 transforms the pimento from a valuable economic crop to a weed.
 Given their usefulness, it is significant when farmers choose not
 to cultivate trees and to destroy wild seedlings. Although this is a
 great loss to farmers as well as consumers, it is a greater loss to the
 society as a whole. In a mountainous country like Jamaica,
 anything that stops farmers from growing trees becomes a con-
 tributing factor to the damage done by erosion.





References
 1. Adams, Dennis C. 1971(a). The blue majoe and other bush, an introduc-
tion to plant life in Jamaica. McGraw-Hill Far Eastern Publishers, Ltd.
 2. Agriculture Census Unit, Department of Statistics. 1973. Census of
agriculture 1968-69, Jamaica. Kingston, Jamaica: Govt. Dept. of Statistics.
 3. Clarke, Colin. 1974. Jamaica in maps. London: University of London Press.
 4. Daily News. 1976 (July 28). Tropical jungle garden.
 5. Edwards, David. 1961. An economic study of small farming in Jamaica.
Mona, Jamaica: Institute of Social and Economic Research.
 6. Geertz, Clifford. 1971. Agricultural involution. Berkeley, CA: University of
California Press.
 7. Money, E.C. 1972. Patterns of settlement. London: Evan Brothers Ltd.


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