OLIVES. 



OLIVE. ( Olea Europcea. ) Bon Jard. Loudon. Phillips. 

 Rosier. 



The olive is a low, evergreen, branching tree, throwing 

 out numerous suckers from its roots ; it rises to the height 

 of from twenty to thirty feet ; the leaves are stiff, narrow, 

 simple, very entire, and more or less lanceolate in different 

 varieties, dull green above and whitish below. The flowers 

 are in small axillary bunches, of a yellowish white. The 

 berry is a drupe, of a black, violet, or red color, sometimes 

 white ; its hard, thick, fleshy pulp encloses a stone. 



The olive requires a greater degree of heat than the 

 vine, but not so great as the orange. It will not flourish 

 within the tropics. M. Poiteau informs us, that in Europe, 

 45 of northern latitude is the extreme boundary for the 

 cultivation of the olive. He also informs us, that during 

 his abode in the equinoctial regions of America, in the lat- 

 itude of 17 north, he saw the olive trees 30 feet in height; 

 they grew, but they never produced fruit. The olive has 

 been cultivated from time immemorial in Egypt and Bar- 

 bary, and in every part of Europe and Asia, where the 

 soil is favorable to its growth ; it is naturalized to the 

 south of France, Spain, and Italy. The trees are said to 

 live to an incredible age. 



USES. The olive has long been cultivated as the most 

 useful of all trees, and to the farmer the surest source of 

 wealth. And it has become a proverb, " If you want to 

 leave an inheritance to your children, plant an olive." 

 The tree begins to bear at two years of age, and soon re- 

 pays all expense. In twenty years they begin to bear good 

 crops, yielding fifteen or twenty pounds of oil annually. 

 And an old, hollow tree, near Gricomi, to the east of Rome, 

 has produced 240 English quarts of oil in a year. Mr. 

 Jefferson esteems the olive as the most precious gift of 

 Heaven to man more precious than even bread. He in- 

 forms us that, " in passing the Alps at the Col de Tende, 

 where there are mere masses of rocks, wherever there hap- 

 pens to be a little soil, there are a number of olive trees, 

 and a family supported by them. Take away these trees, 

 and the same ground in corn could not support a single 

 family. A pound of oil is equivalent to many pounds of 

 flesh, by the quantity of vegetables it will prepare and ren- 



