O I L 



OLE 



inactive slate, drawing little nourishment from 

 the earth for a few weeks. It is also the only- 

 proper period for moving all the bulbous kinds 

 in particular, both to separate Off-sets and 

 transplant the main roots, or to take them tip 

 lor keeping for a while. See Bulb. 



The roots should be taken up in dry weather 

 if possible, and all the Off-sets separated singly 

 from the main bulb, &c. planting them in 

 nursery-beds, in rows six inches asunder, by 

 dibble, or in drills two or three inches deep, or 

 in any other method that may be suitable. 

 They should remain a year or two, according to 

 their size, in this situation to get strength ; then 

 be transplanted, at the proper season, where they 

 are lo continue, managing them as other bulb- 

 ous- and tuberous-rooted plants. See Bulb 

 and Tuber. 



The Off-sets of fibrous-rooted perennial 

 plants, may either be slipped off from the sides 

 of the main roots as they stand in the ground, 

 or the roots may be wholly taken up, and parted 

 into as many slips as there are Off-sets properly 

 furnished with fibres. 



In this sort the proper season is autumn, 

 when their stalks decay, or early in spring, be- 

 fore new ones begin to shoot forth ; though 

 some hardy sorts may be slipped any time in 

 open weather from the autumn to the early 

 spring, and others almost any time when they 

 occur; planting them by dibble, the smaller 

 ones in nursery-beds, in rows six or eight in- 

 ches asunder, to have a year's growth ; and 

 the larger ones at once where they are to re- 

 main. 



In several sorts of under-shrubby perennial 

 plants that arc capable of being increased by Off- 

 sets from the bottoms, the proper season for tak- 

 ing them off is the autumn and spring, or in the 

 hardy kinds any time in open weather, during 

 the autumn or early spring, planting them in 

 nursery-rows for a year or two, or till of proper 

 size for the purposes they are designed for. 



The Off-sets of succulent plants should gene- 

 rally he slipped off in summer, and, previous to 

 planting those of the tender kinds, be laid on a 

 dry shelf for some days, till the moisture at bot- 

 tom is dried up 3 then planted in pots of dry 

 soil, and managed according to their different 

 kinds and habits of growth. See Succulent 

 Plants. 



Off-sets arc never produced from annual 

 plants of any kind. 



The particular management that is requisite 

 in the different kinds is fully explained under 

 the Culture of the plant to which it belongs. 



OIL-TREE. See Ricinus. 



OLD-MAN'S-BEARD. See Clematis. 



OJLEA, a genus containing plants of the 

 exotic tree kind. The Olive Tree. 



It belongs to the class and order Diandna 

 Monogynia, and ranks in the natural order of 

 Sepiarice. 



The characters are : that the calyx is a one- 

 leafed perianthium, tubular, small, deciduous : 

 mouth four-toothed, erect : the corolla one- 

 petalled, funnel-form : tube cylindrical, the 

 length of the calyx : border four-parted, flat : 

 segments subovate : the stamina have two, op- 

 posite, awl-shaped filaments, short : anthers 

 erect : the pist.illum is a roundish germ : style 

 simple, very short ; stigma bifid, thickish, with 

 the clefts emarginate ; the pericarpium is a sub- 

 ovate drupe, smooth, one-celled: the seed is 

 a nut, ovate-oblong and wrinkled. 



The species cultivated are : 1.0. F.uropcea r 

 Common European Olive; 2.0. Capensis, Cape 

 Olive; 3. 0. Americana, American Olive; 4. 

 0. fragrant, Sweet-scented Olive. 



The first grows naturally in woods in the 

 South of France, Spain, and Italy, and is there- 

 fore not cultivated : the leaves are much shorter 

 and stiffer than those of the cultivated Olive : 

 the branches are frequently armed with thorns, 

 and the fruit is small and of little use. 



There are several varieties; as the Warted 

 Olive, which is a native of the Cape. The Long- 

 leaved, which is chiefly cultivated in the South, 

 of France, and from which they make the best 

 oil. The young fruit is the most esteemed 

 when pickled. 



There are several sub-varieties. The Broad- 

 leaved, which is chiefly cultivated in Spain, 

 where the trees grow to a much larger size than 

 the preceding ; the leaves are much larger, and 

 not so white on their under side: the fruit is 

 near twice the size of the Provence Olive, but of 

 a strong rank flavour, and the oil is likewise 

 strong. 



There are also other varieties; as the narrow- 

 leaved, short hard-leaved, shining-leaved, Afri- 

 can, Lucca, &c. 



It is observed that the Olive seldom becomes 

 a large tree ; but two or three stems frequently 

 rise from the same root, from twentv to thirty 

 feet high, putting out branches almost their whole 

 length, covered with a gray bark: the leaves are 

 stiff", about two inches and a half long, and half an 

 inch broad in the middle, gradually diminishing 

 to both ends, of a lively green on their upper side 

 and hoary on their under, standing opposite : 

 the flowers are produced in small axillary 

 bunches ; they are small, white, and have short 

 tubes spreading open at top : the fruit is a su,- 



