SACRED AND CLASSICAL PLANTING. 



cites a crowd of interesting reflections in every well disposed mind. Thus it is often 

 figuratively used in the poetical diction of the east. Speaking of the righteous man, it is 

 said: — " His branches shall spread and his beauty shall be as the olive tree." 



The most distinguished, and to many, the most endearing reflection, suggested by this 

 tree, arises from its giving the name to that Mount, (the Mount of Olives,) so famous in 

 tlie history of the Saviour. This mountain lay a little out of the city of Jerusalem, to- 

 wards the east, commanding a full view of the metropolis, from which it was separated by 

 the valley of Jehoshaphat, and the brook Kedron. To it the Redeemer of the world was 

 wont to retire in the evening, after he had spent a laborious day in teaching the multitudes 

 that attended His ministry in Jerusalem; from it, He gazed upon the city, wept over it, 

 and predicted its final overthrow. In the garden, which lay at the bottom of this hill, 

 He commenced the scene of His last suflferings; and from the highest or central elevation, 

 He ascended into Heaven. The olive crowns the top of the hill till this daj^; and from 

 its being so remarkably long lived, it is thought by many, that the vicissitudes of eigh- 

 teen hundred years have not yet swept away the identical objects under which our Re- 

 deemer wandered. To many superficial readers of the Bible, and especially to those who 

 rest implicitly on our translation of it, the olive tree forms a stumbling-block not easily 

 removed. The plant, as is generally known, does not produce leaves of a deep green color, 

 though properly enough classed amongst our evergreens. The leaves resemble those of 

 the willow, are of a light, or yellowish green, and sometimes rusty underneath, and do not 

 equal the expectations of travellers. Thus Mr. Sharpe, while in the East, observes : " The 

 fields are in a manner covered with olive trees; but the tree does not answer the charac- 

 ter I conceived of it: the royal Psalmist, and some of the sacred writers, speak with rap- 

 ture of the green olive tree, so that I expected a beautiful green; and I confess I was 

 wretchedly disappointed to find its hue resembling that of our hedges when they are 

 covered with dust. The olive tree may possibly delight in Judea, but undoubtedly will 

 disgust a man accustomed to English verdure." Now, it so happens, that the word trans- 

 lated green, means vigor, or freshness; and every one must know that exuberant vegeta- 

 tion is not necessarily of a green color, but frequently of a red or pinkish tinge. In Dan- 

 iel, the seventj' translators render the same word flourisliing : for it is absurd to suppose 

 that when King Nebuchadnezzar said, — "I was at rest in my house, and green in my pa- 

 lace," (as it is in the Hebrew,) he referred to color. The passage in the Bible, therefore, 

 should be rendered: — " I am like a vigorous olive tree in the house of God." Rich har- 

 vests of this tice waved over the plains of Greece; and it is yet an inhabitant of that high- 

 ly favored country. It presents nothing magnificent — nothing solemn, for it never ex- 

 ceeds fifty feet in height; yet its loveliness, and sunniness, amply compensate for its shrub- 

 like size. A warm, dry air seems to suit it best. Hence it was found in greatest perfec- 

 tion in Attica and Cilicia. In those countries, where regularly propagated for its oil, it was 

 the practice to plant the trees thirty feet apart, so as to allow the air to circulate fieely 

 about them on all sides. This tree forms a favorite haunt of singing birds, having a thin 

 shade, sufficient to shelter them from excessive heat, yet not excluding much light. 



The Almond, mentioned in the Holy Writ, was by the Hebrews called shakad, signify- 

 ing to watch, or awake, because after the rigors of winter, it is one of the first to hail the 

 coming of spring. This idea seems to be referred to in the vision which Jeremiah the 

 prophet had. " The word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Jeremiah, what seest thou.-* 

 And I said, I see a rod of an almond tree. Then said the Lord unto me. Thou hast well 

 for I will hasten My word to perform it;" or rather, " I am hastening or wa 

 my word to fulfil it." The rod of Aaron was of the Almond tree, as were a 



