No. 11. 



The Olive Tree. — A Princely Establishment. 



339 



flesh, by the quantity of vegetables it will 

 prepare, and render fit and comfortable food. 

 Without this tree, the county of Provence 

 and territory of Genoa w^ouid not support one 

 half, perhaps not one-third, of their present 

 inhabitants. The nature of the soil is of little 

 consequence if it be dry. The trees are 

 planted from 15 to 20 feet apart, and when 

 tolerably good, will yield 15 to 20 lbs. of oil 

 yearly, one with another; but there are trees 

 which yield much more. They begin to ren- 

 der good crops at 20 years old, and last until 

 killed by cold, which will happen at some 

 time or other, even in their best positions, in 

 France ; but they put out again from their 

 roots. In Italy, I am told, they have trees 

 200 years old. They afford an easy employ- 

 ment, and require so little nourishment, that 

 if the soil be fit for any other production, it 

 may be cultivated among the olive trees with- 

 out injuring them. The northern limits of 

 this tree are the mountains of Cevennes, from 

 about the meridian of Carcassonne to the 

 Rhone : from thence to the Alps and Appe- 

 nines, as far as Genoa, 1 know, and how much 

 farther I am not informed. The shelter of 

 these mountains may be considered as equiv- 

 alent to a degree and a half of latitude, at 

 least, because, westward of the commence- 

 ment of the Cevennes, there are no olive 

 trees in 43^° or even in 43° of latitude, 

 whereas we find them now on the Rhone at 

 Pierrelette in 44^°, and formerly they were 

 at Tains above the mouth of the Isere in 45°, 

 sheltered by the near approach of Cevennes 

 and Alps, which only leave there a passage 

 for the Rhone. Whether such a shelter ex- 

 ists or not in the southern states, I know not ; 

 but this we may say, that either it exists or 

 is not necessary there, because we know they 

 produce the orange in open air, and wherever 

 the orange will stand at all, experience shows 

 the olive will stand well, and be a much 

 hardier tree. Notwithstanding the great quan- 

 tity of oil made in France, they have not 

 enough for their own consumption, and there- 

 fore import from other countries. This is an 

 article that will always keep pace with its 

 productions. Raise it, and it begets its own 

 demand. Little is carried to America, be- 

 cause Europe has it not to spare ; we there- 

 fore have not learnt the use of it. But cover 

 the Southern States with it, and every man 

 will become a consumer of it within whose 

 reach it can be brought in point of price. If 

 the memory of those persons be held in great 

 respect in the Southern States who introduced 

 there the culture of rice, what obligation 

 would be due to him who should introduce 

 the olive tree and set the example of its cul- 

 ture! Having myself been an eye-witness 

 to the blessings which this tree sheds on the 

 Door, I never had my wishes so kindled for 



the introduction of any article of new culture 

 into our own country. South Carolina, and 

 those states south of Carolina, appear to me 

 to be the states wherein its success, in fa- 

 voured positions at least, could not be doubt- 

 ed ; and I flatter myself it would come within 

 the views of the Society for the encourage- 

 ment of Agriculture, to begin the experiments 

 which are to prove its practicability. Car- 

 cassonne is the place from which the plants 

 may be most certainly and cheaply obtained ; 

 they can be sent from thence by water to 

 Bordeaux, where they may be embarked on 

 vessels bound for the Southern States." 



A Princely Establishment. 



There is, probably, not so splendid a coun- 

 try estate in America, as that described in the 

 following article from the Farmer's Visitor. 

 It is situated at Watertown, seven miles from 

 Boston, and belongs to J. P. Gushing, Esq. 



" Mr. Cushing's garden is a most enchant- 

 ing and delightful spot; it is the same spot, 

 two and a half miles south of West Cambridge 

 centre, upon the heights of Watertown, which, 

 half a century ago, was the farm and residence 

 of the late Col. Bond. All the varieties of 

 vegetable cultivation, shrubs, trees, fruits and 

 flowers, of all the various climates, may here 

 be found. Tropical trees and fruits, oranges 

 and lemons, figs and dates, pine apples, the 

 coffee and tea plant, the cinnamon and the 

 alspice — indeed, many more than we know 

 how to name, much less to describe — may be 

 found here. The establishment of this gar- 

 den alone must be kept up at an annual cost, 

 appalling to the purse of the most wealthy 

 men of the country; thrown upon the hands 

 of the man with an income of ten thousand a 

 year, the cost of such an establishment as the 

 garden, would make him shrink from the idea 

 of fixing it among the permanent amusements 

 of his life. 



The farm of Mr. C, including the walks 

 and lawns and splendid woodlands, together 

 with the garden, covers about sixty acres: 

 the whole is in a high state of cultivation. 

 The quantity of hay upon the acre is im- 

 mense. Fifteen hands were employed at hay 

 making on the day of our visit; ten hands is 

 the minimum number employed at all seasons 

 upon the farm ; and five men, the most if not 

 all of them trained European gardeners, are 

 kept constantly employed in the garden. 

 Such of these as have families, find their do- 

 micil in a brick house of many apartments, 

 forming the rear part of the wall which sur- 

 rounds the garden. The garden consists of 

 two or more acres, and in its centre is a 

 splendid fountain and vase, from which we 

 presume the whole may be watered at all 

 times. The sides of the close brick walls 



