of which is usually void. 1 The oil of the olive 

 is furnished by the pulp, which is a charac- 

 teristic almost peculiar to this fruit : in other 

 oleaginous vegetables it is extracted from the 

 seed. The young olive sets in June , increases 

 in size and remains green through the sum- 

 mer, begins to change colour early in Octo- 

 ber, and is ripe at the end of November or 

 in the beginning of December. On the wild 

 Olive five or six drupes are ripened upon 

 each peduncle j but on the cultivated tree a 

 great part of the flowers are abortive , and 

 the green fruit is cast at every stage of its 

 growth ; so that rarely more than one or two 

 germs upon a cluster arrive at maturity. 



It has been observed from early antiquity 

 that the produce of the Olive is alternate ; and 

 in France it is proverbially said to labour one 

 year for itself, and one year for its owner. 

 The cause of this phenomenon will be men- 

 tioned hereafter. It is asserted that the wild 

 Olives are sometimes barren; but these must 

 be trees that have sprung from stones drop- 



1 Semen unum soepe abortivum. DE JL'SSIEU. 



