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TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



THE OLIVE. 



Top of an Olive Tree. 



San Remo, the celebrated locality for olives on the riviera, Italy, although 

 situated nearly three degrees further north than Redding, California, has 

 the same mean temperature in Winter, and annually as Sacramento, and 

 there is no question as to the fact that Central California is equally the 

 natural home for this semi-tropic fruit. In his admirable description of 

 San Remo, Mr. Hassall, speaking of the olive, says : 



It is the most conspicuous and abundant of all the fruit trees growing 

 on the riviera, claiming the hills and valleys as its own. Although the 

 olive tree has taken possession of the riviera, it is really a native of the 

 Holy Land, but it has evidently found here conditions of soil and climate 

 not less favorable than those of its own country. The olive tree is an ever- 

 green of slow growth, attaining under favorable conditions the size of a 

 forest tree, and nourishing for many centuries. The mode of growth is 

 singular ; the young trees usually consist of a single trunk which divides 

 at a short distance from the ground into two or three primary branches, 

 and this trunk is often irregularly twisted and contorted. When the tree 

 has attained any considerable size, the interior frequently decays and the 

 outer part of the trunk with the bark becomes split up into two or three seg- 

 ments ; the bark then gradually encircles the separate portions until each 

 becomes coated all around, and several stems are thus formed out of the 



