BOOK XV. VI. 20-22 



while he recommends planling the Licinian oHve in 

 a cold and thin st)il, for the reason that rich or warm 

 earth ruins its oil and the tree gets exhausted by 

 its mere fertihty, and moreover is attacked by moss 

 and red rust. He advises that oUve-yards should be 

 in a position exposcd to the sun and facing west, and 

 he does not approve of any other arrangement. He 

 says that the best way of preserving orchites and 

 posia oHves is either to put them in brine when they 

 are green or to crush them and store them in mastic 

 oil ; the best oHve-oil is made from the bitterest 

 olive obtainable ; for the rest the oHves should be 

 coHected olf the ground as soon as possible, and 

 washed if they are dirty ; it is enough to leave 

 them to dry for three days, and if the weather is 

 cold and frosty they must be pressed on the fourth 

 day, and when pressed they should be sprinkled 

 with salt. OHves kept on a boarded floor lose oil 

 and it deteriorates in quaHty, and the same 

 happens if the oil is left on the lees and the 

 grounds — these are the flesh of the olive and 

 produce the dregs ; consequently it should be ladled 

 several times a day, and moreover this must be done 

 with a shell and into leaden caldrons, as copper 

 spoils it. AU these operations, he says, must be 

 carried on with presses that have been heated and 

 tightly closed, admitting as Httle air as possible, and 

 therefore also no wood should be cut there (and con- 

 sequently the most suitable fire is made with the 

 stones of the oUves themselves) ; the oil must be 

 poured out of the caldrons into vats, so as to leave 

 behind the grounds and the lees : for this purpose the 

 vessels must be changed fairly frequently and the 

 osier baskets wiped with a sponge, so that so far as 



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