AN OLIVE GROVE 99 



branches often twist about in the most 

 puzzling circuits and at the most queer 

 angles, no two contortions being in the 

 least alike. Recently I discovered a trunk 

 so twisted that at a distance it looked, for 

 all the world, like a huge boaconstrictor 

 winding about a perfectly straight bole. 



3. When the tree has attained a con- 

 siderable age it is almost certain to begin 

 to decay on the inside. This decay so 

 weakens the fiber of the tree that the 

 powerful roots, pushing out in opposite 

 directions, for nourishment in the poor 

 soil, actually pull the trunk until it splits. 

 Thus are formed two segments, each one 

 more or less decayed. After years of fur- 

 ther decay, one or both of these segments 

 may be split again by the tugging roots. 



4. Now comes the well-nigh incredible 

 story of the bark. Naturally we would 

 expect that all this decaying and splitting 

 would finally kill the tree. Not so at all. 

 The bark grows around every segment, 

 either completely or sufficiently to insure 



