1889.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 4. 217 



his flowers as the olive." Next to the cereals, it is by far 

 the most important agricultural product of Turkey. Its 

 berry, pickled, forms the chief article of food; the oil, pro- 

 duced from its pericarp, seasons most of the dishes, and 

 keeps alive the light that cheers the winter's gloom ; its 

 wood, close-grained and hard, takes on a beautiful polish 

 and is very highly prized ; while its bark and leaves, pos- 

 sessing certain febrifuge principles, are much sought after 

 by the leeches of the country. The tree is slow in reaching 

 maturity, but after the fifteenth or sixteenth year it bears on 

 indefinitely, and seems never to lose its vitality. There are 

 trees in the garden of Gethsemane estimated to be one thou- 

 sand years old, still in full sap and vigor. It is of all fruit 

 trees the hardiest, for scarcely any amount of mutilation, 

 any severity of frost, or even sharp scorching by fire, suf- 

 fices to destroy its life. " So long as there is a fragment 

 remaining, though externally the tree looks as dry as a post, 

 yet does it continue to bear its load of oily berries ; and for 

 twenty generations the owner gathers fruit from the faithful 

 old patriarch. This tree also requires but little labor or care 

 of any kind, and, if long neglected, will revive again when the 

 ground is dug or ploughed, and yield as before. Vineyards 

 forsaken die out almost immediately, and mulberry orchards 

 neglected run rapidly to ruin ; but not so the olive. Though 

 they may not have been attended to for half a century, yet 

 they continue to be a source of income to their owners." 



These peculiarities Virgil observed and carefully noted in 

 his Georgics nearly two thousand years ago : — 



" But, on the other hand, no culture needs 

 The olive tree at all ; not it the knife 

 Forthcurved expects, nor clinging hoe, when once 

 It in the field is fixed, and bears the breeze. 

 To it the earth, its bosom loosened up 

 By furrows of the ploughshare's hook-like tooth, 

 Sufficient moisture gives, and gives the plough 

 Returns of weighty fruitage rich and ripe." 



— Georgic, II., p. 420. 



" Why, cleave an olive tree's dry stump, and, strange 

 And wondrous strange to tell, an olive root 

 Will from the dry wood come ! " 



