100 [ THE OLIVE TRIE 



is more liable to fungous and insect parasites, which may 

 check its growth and affect its fertility. The olive tree 

 planted on good soils, grows rapidly and fruits regularly, 

 the production of fruit being considerably increased it the 

 tree is irrigated twice or thrice during the summer. For 

 dry-land arboriculture the olive tree is at lea^t as suitable 

 as the vine, the fig-tree and the almond, provided 

 that the land is properly tilled and kept perfectly clean 

 of weeds and all herbaceous vegetation from April to 

 September inclusively; but heavy cropping of the land 

 in winter should be avoided when the trees have 

 reached adult size and are in full bearing. This system 

 of cultivation is followed in the few olive groves which 

 are still in existence in these Islands, and is at present 

 followed most carefully and on a very large scale in 

 the extensive olive groves around Siax in Tunisia. 



PROPAGATION. The olive tree can be multiplied by 

 seed, cuttings, layers, rooted suckers, pieces of the 

 base of the trunk or truncheons, or by grafting or 

 budding. 



The olive tree comes more or less true from seed, 

 and this partly accounts for the comparatively small 

 number of varieties under cultivation. Propagation by 

 seed is done by sowing the fruit or its stone, as soon 

 as it is ripe. The germinating power of the seed 

 deteriorates rapidly by keeping, and therefore if it is 

 not possible to sow at once, the fruits or their stones 

 should be stratified and kept moderately moist For this 

 object they may be packed in boxes or pans, in alternate 

 layers with common garden soil mixed with some leaf- 

 mould, then covered with a layer of the same material, 

 and the boxes or pans placed in a cellar or in a corner 

 of the garden, and occasionally sprinkled with water 

 to keep them moderately moist. The seed bed should 

 be situated in a cool and shaded place, the soil liberally 

 mixed with well-rotted manure and leaf-mould to a 

 depth of at least 15 c. m., and the seeds or stones 



