528 OLEAGINOUS PLANTS. 



tree, without spines, and with four-angled twigs. The fruit is a 

 drupe about the size and color of a damson. Its fleshy periearp 

 yields by expression olive oil, of which the finest comes from 

 Provence and Florence. Spanish or Castile soap is insult- |y 

 mixing olive oil and soda, while soft soap is made by mixing the 

 oil with potash. 



The wild olive is indigenous to Syria, Greece, and Africa, on 

 the lower slopes of Mount Atlas. The cultivated species grows 

 spontaneously in Syria, and is easily reared in Spain, Italy nid 

 the South of France, various parts of Australia and the Ionian 

 Islands. Wherever it has been tried on the sea-coasts of Austra- 

 lia, the success has been most complete. There are several fine 

 trees near Adelaide, some of them fourteen feet high, bearing 

 fruit in abundance. Unfortunately no one has attempted to cul- 

 tivate the plant on a large scale, but in a few years Australia 

 ought to suply herself with olive oil. 



The olive tree is also grown in Hong-Kong. 



There are five or six varieties of O. Europcea, or sativa, grown 

 in the south of Europe, of which district they are for the most 

 part natives. 



The entire exports of olive oil from the kingdom of Naples 

 have been estimated at 36,333 tuns a year, which, taken at its 

 mean value when exported at 62 per tun, is equivalent to the 

 annual sum of 2,252,646. 



There are one or two distinct species, natives of the East Indies 

 and the Cape of Grood Hope. This genus of plants, besides their 

 valuable products of oil and fruit, are also much admired for the 

 fragrance of their white flowers. There is a yellow-blossomed 

 variety, native of China, O.fragrans, the Lau-hoa of the Chinese, 

 which is used to perfume their teas. 



Olive oil now forms an article of export from Chili, being grown 

 in most parts of that republic, particularly in the vicinity of St. 

 Jago, where trees of three feet in diameter, and of a proportionate 

 height, are common. The olive was first carried from Andalusia 

 to Peru in 1560, by Antonio de Bibera, of Lima. Frezier speaks 

 of the olive being used for oil in Chili, a century and a half ago. 



The culture of the olive has been recommended for Florida and 

 most of the Southern States of America. Formerly, on account of 

 its slow growth, the olive was not considered very useful ; but 

 some years since a new variety was introduced into France, and 

 into some parts of Spain and Portugal, which yields an abundant 

 crop of fruit the second year after planting. They are small trees 

 or rather shrubs, about four or five feet high. The fruit is larger 

 than the common olive, is of a fine green color when ripe, and 

 contains a great deal of oil, The advantages accruing from this 

 new mode of cultivating the olive tree, are beyond all calculation. 

 By the old method an olive tree does not attain its full growth, 

 and consequently does not yield any considerable crop under 

 thirty years ; whereas the new system of cultivating dwarf trees, 

 especially from cuttings, affords very abundant crops in two or 



