ABSTRACT
In 1934 Nazmi established at Zar'een a joint-farm in which the jointfarmer held one-half of the capital. On the other farms the joint-farmer held only one-third or one-fourth of the capital, giving the croppers higher effective shares. In the past such differentials appear to have been accepted, as we have seen, as a matter of course; but in 1935 a bonus was given to the croppers on the new farm to bring their share up exactly to the effective rate of 11/48 that the croppers got where the joint-farmer held one-third of the capital. The bonus was paid out of the joint-farmer's share: after all, Nazmi was already paying a full fourth of his. 62 On the farm where the joint-farmer held one-fourth of the capital, the croppers retained their higher effective rate. 63
We have no accounts for 1936. The harvest of 1937 was bountiful, and the croppers were evidently so delighted with it that they pressed no claims for adjustments; but in 1938 and 1939 the bonus reappears, showing that by then the croppers were both conscious of the differential mechanism that we have sketched here and able to do something about it. 64 In Zar'een, then, a 'floor' of 11/48 of the crop-very close to the one-fourth that the croppers had in the past received from Nazmi alone-was put under their effective rate of income beginning in 1935.
