104 [ THI OLIVE TREE 



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a layer of soil mixed with old manure or leaf mould, 

 and filling up gradually the hole after a year or two, 

 when the suckers are strong enough. The young plants 

 obtained by this method are generally very well-rooted 

 and make fine, sturdy trees in a few years. 



Propagation by cuttings, layers, suckers or truncheons 

 has of course the great advantage of reproducing 

 exactly the mother plant, and hence all suckers etc. 

 afterwards obtained from the young trees will reproduce 

 the same variety. Suckers or truncheons obtained from 

 budded trees of course reproduce the stock on which 

 the tree is budded, and if the stock belongs to the 

 wild type or to an inferior or undesirable sort, the young 

 trees raised from it must be budded with the required 

 sort, when they are strong enough to receive a bud. 

 The olive tree is hardly ever grafted, budding being 

 always preferable, as in the case of the orange tree. 

 Very often seedlings or suckers of the wild forms of 

 the olive are used as stock, trees budded on this stock 

 being supposed to make sturdier growth than when 

 grown on own roots, and to be more productive. 

 Budding may be done in the nursery where it will 

 be easier to look after the budded plants and train them 

 properly. The operation of budding can be performed 

 at any time from March to September provided that 

 the stock is in active vegetation and the sap is in 

 movement. The bud should be selected from a healthy 

 strong growing twig, as a bud from a weak twig is 

 more prone to develop the well-known tubercle of the 

 olive, which too often infects the bud and destroys it 

 before it has formed the first shoot. 



CULTIVATION. Olive trees of any size from a 

 yearling sucker to a tree with a trunk 20 c. m. in 

 thickness, can be transplanted either with or without 

 a ball of earth, at any time from October to March. The 

 roots should be carefully handled to avoid unnecessary 

 bruising; badly contused stumps of roots should be 



