OLE 



OLE 



pcrior-berried drupe, of an oblong spheroid il 

 form, and of a yellowish green colour, turning 

 black when ripe 



The usual method of nuking oil from Olives 

 in Italy is, to crush ihe fruit to a paste n ith 

 a perpendicular mill-Stone running round a 

 trough; which is then put into flat "round bas- 

 kets, made of rushes, piled one upon another 

 under the press : after the first pressure, scald- 

 ing water is poured into each basket, it? contents 

 stirred up, and the operation repeated till no 

 more oil can be skimmed off the surface of the 

 tubs beneath: but this is not a <rood method: the 

 oil is seldom pure, keeps ill, and soon crows 

 rancid: but by another process, which is that of 

 pounding the fruit in a mortar, the crushed 

 substance being then thrown into a long wool- 

 len bag, and rubbed hard upon a sloping board, 

 and then wrung, adding afterwards hot water, 

 and continuing to press as long as a drop of oil 

 can be drawn, the work is much more effectually 

 performed. 



The unripe Olives when pickled, especially 

 the Provence and Lucca sorts, are to many 

 extremely grateful, and supposed to excite ap- 

 petite and promote digestion. -According to 

 Miller they are prepared by repeatedly steeping 

 them in water ; to which some add alkaline salt 

 or quick-lime, in order to shorten the process ; 

 after which they are washed, and preserved in a 

 pickle of common salt and water, with some- 

 times the addition of an aromatic. 



The best salad oil is of a bright pale amber 

 colour, bland to the taste, and without the least 

 smell. 



It has been observed that, with a little pro- 

 tection in severe frost, the Olive-tree may be 

 maintained against a wall about London, but 

 that in Devonshire there are some of these trees 

 which have grown in the open air many years, 

 and are seldom injured by frost, yet the sum- 

 mers are not warm enough to bring the fruit to 

 any great perfection. 



The second species is a small tree, or rather 

 shrub, not branching much : the trunk straight, 

 with many joints ; bark subhirsute, blackish 

 brown, with ash-coloured dots and lines : the 

 leaves conjugate, decussated, sometimes sinu- 

 ated at the end, but commonly entire, dense, 

 and rigid, moderately concave, paler or deeper 

 green, out always paler underneath, with oblique 

 smooth veins, less conspicuous underneath than 

 above : from the axils and at the end of the 

 branches the flowers come out in racemes in 

 June and July, sometimes thinly disposed, but 

 sometimes so numerous that the racemes hang 

 down. It is a native of the Cape. 



The third has the leaves opposite, evergreen, 

 Vol. II. 



petioled, shining : the racemes sT;ort, axillary, 

 brachiate, with opposite pedicels : the segm. :i 

 of the corolla revoluie : the stvle so short as to 

 be scarcely any : the stigma bifid : the dn . 

 globular, even, handsome: the nut obovate, 

 substriated, perforated at the base: and there are 

 male and female flowers on the same plant with 

 the hermaphrodites. Ii is a native of Carolina 

 and Florida, flowering in June. 



The fourth species is a large tree in it- native 

 situation, the branches and branchlets tr.cholo- 

 mous, obscurely four-cornered, smooth: the 

 leaves decussated, oblong, sharp, a little bent 

 back at the edge, parallel-nened, reticulated, 

 smooth, deep green above, paler underneath, 

 spreading, frequent on the branchlets, a finger's 

 length : the petioles semieylindne, grooved, 

 smooth, a quarter of an inch in length : the 

 flowers on the branchlets, aggregate m umbels, 

 about six or eight together; peduncles filiform, 

 one-flowered, smooth, half an inch in length : 

 the flowers are very sweet-scented. It is a 

 native of China, &c, flowering in July and the 

 following month. 



Culture. — These plants may be propagated in 

 this climate by layers, which should be made 

 from the young branches in the spring, in the 

 usual manner, and be occasionally watered 

 during the summer season, when in the autumn 

 following thev may be taken off and be planted 

 in separate pots, being dulv watered and placed 

 in proper shade till fresh rooted, removing them 

 in the beginning of the autumn into the shelter 

 of the sreen-house. The layers sometimes, how- 

 ever, require two summers before they become 

 perfectly" rooted. 



It is notwithstanding the best method to pur- 

 chase plants ofthis sort, which are annually sent 

 to the Italian warehouse-men in London, of 

 pretty large sizes, with orange and other trees, as 

 thev are very tedious in raising from layers. 



These plants, after being thus procured, and 

 cleaned from filth bv soakin<r their roots in water, 

 should be planted in pots filled with fresh sandy 

 light earth, plunging them in a moderate hot- 

 bed, shading them in the hot sun, and refreshing 

 them occasionally with slight waterings as the 

 earth in the pots becomes dry. When they begin 

 to shoot they should have air admitted pretty 

 freely in proportion to the weather, being after- 

 wards inured to the open air in a place defended 

 from winds, removing them in the beginning of 

 autumn into the green-house. 



When they have in this management acqui- 

 red strong roots, they mavbe removed with earth 

 about them, and be planted out in the open 

 ground in a drv warm situation, being managed 

 as myrtles and other similar plants. When 

 Y 



