498 Bulletin 94 



The tree is very tenacious of iife and will live under such conditions, 

 but the growtji is slow and the yield of fruit limited.. Soil of good 

 fertility and physical character is required to produce high yields of 

 fine-qual'iy fruit. The trees do particularly well on calcareous soils. 

 If hardpan is present it must be broken by dynamite or a subsoil 

 plow to allow the roots to penetrate the better soil below. 



OLIVE DISTRICTS 

 Ine natural requirements of the olive indicate that a large portion 

 of southern Arizona is well suited to this tree. The sections of the 

 State that stand out most prominently in this particular are the Salt 

 River Valley ; the Gila Valley, from Florence southwestward to Yuma ; 

 and the Colorado Valley, from Parker southward to Mexico. This 

 includes not only the river valleys proper but extensive areas of 

 adjacent mesa land, wherever water is available for irrigation. In 

 addition to these districts, there are smaller ones in the southern part 

 of the State where the olive will succeed. 



PROPAGATION 

 Arizona has very wisely quarantined against olive stock from all 

 outside sources in order to prevent the introduction of serious insects 

 and diseases. This makes the propagation of the olive a subject of 

 extreme interest and suggests a study of the leading methods of prop- 

 agation. 



HARDWOOD CUTTINGS 



Large, mature branches one to two inches in diameter are used 

 for making hardwood cuttings, and the work is done during January 

 and February while the trees are dormant. The cuttings are made 

 twelve to fifteen inches in length, tied in bundles of fifty or one hun- 

 dred each, and buried horizontally to a depth of six to ten inches in 

 moist sand, preferably on the north side of a building, where they 

 are allowed to remain until spring (See Fig. 5). They are then 

 planted in nursery rows three and one-half feet apart and fifteen 

 inches distant in the rows. The soil should be packed well at the 

 base of the cuttings and only the tips left exposed. As an extra pre- 

 caution the tips may be coated with a film of melted grafting wax or 

 covered lightly with loose soil. Under favorable conditions the cut- 



