CHAPTER XVI. 





 SOME OTHER TROPICAL AND SUBTROPICAL FRUITS. 



202. The Olive. Naturally the olive is a dry-climate 

 fruit; that is, it needs a dry air as well as a relatively dry 

 soil. Dr. Henry Lansdell says in his "Russian Central 

 Asia: " '' In the Zarafshan province there are whole forests 

 of olive-trees." Dr. Albert Regel says in Gartenflora, 

 of Berlin: "In the dry climate of eastern Bokhara, 

 olives are gathered from the wild growth of the foot- 

 hills and brought to market for dessert and confection. 

 The olive-tree is cultivated largely in Tashkemd and in 

 the Kokan country." We have much evidence favoring 

 the truth of the statement that in the dry air of the far 

 East the insects and fungi attacking the olive in the 

 moister climates of the Mediterranean and California are 

 not known. 



In California hundreds of thousands of olive-trees have 

 been planted where, from the configuration of the country, 

 too much moist air reached them from the coast. Experi- 

 ence has finally established the fact that it only reaches a 

 profitable perfection of fruit in a dry atmosphere and on 

 a quite rich dry soil, yet it will grow and bear crops in a 

 greater variety of soils and air than almost any subtropical 

 fruit tree. As the years go on it will be demonstrated 

 that the highest quality of olives for oil and pickling will 

 be reached in hot interior valleys of California, and in such 



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