144 CONVERSATION % ON THE 



when quite dry, it is excessively hard, and 

 difficult either to cut or to split ; for this rea- 

 son, it has the name of devil-wood given to 

 it by the people who live where it is found." 



" Uncle Philip, since the olive is so good 

 and so useful in those countries where it 

 grows, I should think it would be a good 

 plan to take pains with the devil-wood, and 

 try to improve it. Do not you think so too, 

 sir?" 



" I do, indeed ; by grafting slips of the 

 European olive upon our wild kind, I have 

 no doubt very excellent fruit might be got ; 

 and. I dare say it will be done by-and-by, 

 when the Floridas are more thickly inhabited 

 than they are now. The climate there is 

 quite as mild as in Italy, and besides, the 

 devil-wood or wild olive is much more hardy 

 than the European kind." 



" Uncle Philip, it seems to me that we 

 might raise in this country almost all the 

 nice things that we get from others. I know 

 that sugar grows in the Southern States, and 

 I have heard father say that tea and coffee 

 would grow in Florida, if they were properly 

 cultivated : and then if we had olive-trees and 

 could make our own oil, it would save us a 



