334 THE YEAR-BOOK OF AGRICULTURE. 



Propagation of the Olive in the United States. 



DURING the past season, the Patent Office has distributed in the Southern States bordering 

 on the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico, choice cuttings of-^the olive, selected in the South of 

 France. It is already well known that this product has been cultivated in some parts of 

 Florida and California for many years; and, doubtless, there are other sections of country 

 uniting the conditions necessary for the growth and perfection of its roots. It may be stated 

 that, while the Floridas were held by the English in 1769, one Dr. Turnbull, a famous 

 adventurer of that nation, brought over from Smyrna a colony of fifteen hundred Greeks and 

 Minorcas, and founded the settlement of New Smyrna on the Mosquito River. One of the 

 principal treasures which they brought from their native land was the olive. Bartram, who 

 visited this colony in 1775, describes that place as a flourishing town. Its prosperity, how- 

 ever, was of momentary duration. Driven to despair by hardship, oppression, and disease, 

 a part of these unhappy exiles died, while others conceived the hardy enterprise of embark- 

 ing for Havana in an open boat, and in three years their number was reduced to five hundred. 

 The rest removed to St. Augustine, when the Spaniards resumed possession of the country, 

 and in 1783 a few decaying huts and several large olive-trees were the only remains to be 

 seen of their wearied industry. Numerous attempts, at different times, have been made to 

 propagate the olive from seeds, in various parts of the South, which have proved unsuccess- 

 ful. This want of success may be attributed, in part, to the tendency of the olive to sprout 

 into inferior varieties when propagated from seeds ; but after the experiment has been fairly 

 tested by cuttings of choice and well-proved varieties, it is hoped that this "first among 

 trees" will sooner or later become celebrated in the regions of the South. 



Mr. R. Chisholm, in a recent communication to the Charleston (South Carolina) Mercury, 

 states that he has cultivated two kinds of the olive for ten years, and that its fruit ripens 

 fully in the low countries of the South. He has now three hundred trees under cultivation, 

 but he believes that it cannot be cultivated at present for the sake of its oil, as cotton is a 

 more profitable crop. 



Olives in California. At a meeting of the California Academy of Natural Sciences, held 

 February 5, 1855, drawings and specimens of the California olive were exhibited by Dr. 

 Kellogg. The specimens in question were brought by Col. D. Ransom, of the United States 

 Survey, from San Fernando. It is well acclimated in California at all the old mission 

 stations. This tree, as stated by Dr. Kellogg, is thrifty on the sea-coast, declivities, and 

 valleys, when the soil is free from stagnant moisture, and when the debris is flat gravel. It 

 grows to the height of twenty feet, with a trunk of eight or ten inches diameter, and forms a 

 picturesque ornament to avenues and plantations. Its branches are graceful; its foliage 

 evergreen ; its wood excellent ; it lives to a great age, and can be propagated by cuttings. 



Culture of Horse-Radish. 



Mr. B. F. CUTTER, of Pelham, New Hampshire, in a communication to the New England 

 Farmer, recommends the following plan for the cultivation of horse-radish : 



Take any good rich land with a deep soil that is suitable for a garden, root crops gene- 

 rally, or a well drained bog-meadow that is in a good state of cultivation, and ridge by turn- 

 ing two furrows together three feet apart ; make smooth by raking if necessary, and plant 

 the seed fifteen inches instead of two feet apart : some cultivators put it nearer both ways. 

 The after cultivation consists in keeping the ground light and clear from weeds in any 

 way that best suits the cultivator. I prepare my seed early in the spring, by taking roots 

 one-quarter of an inch in diameter, and cutting in pieces one inch long; wash clean and rub 

 off all fibrous roots, and then cover them up in the ground until the sprouts are an inch 

 long, and previous to planting, rub off all but the best one. The reason for this operation 

 is, that you will have less small roots; consequently, more large ones. For the cultivation 

 of horse-radish generally, dig, late in the fall, all that is wanted for winter use, and let the 

 rest remain in the ground for spring, as it is not easy to keep it well in dry cellars. 



