THE OLIVE IX MOROCCO. 591 



or six verdures old, at least, in rows where the soil has been worked 

 and mixed with well-rotted animal manure, and so placed as to admit 

 irrigation. The slips or stakes should be planted half a yard apart, 

 and one yard at least from each row. In catting the slips or stakes the 

 top part exposed to the air and sun should be at once covered with the 

 varnish used by grafters to prevent cracking or decay by the rains. 

 There should be no less than two-thirds of the length buried in the 

 ground when they are 2 or 3 feet in length. There are several other 

 modes of propagation from the protuberances of the roots cut in pieces, 

 and planted in rows 13 inches apart, and watered until the shoots are 

 3 feet high, when they are again separated and transplanted ; also by 

 layers, and from suckers, etc. The time for these operations is from 

 the middle of autumn to the first of March. In plowing the ground 

 care should be taken not to go near the tree and injure the roots ; the 

 ground around the tree must be worked lightly with a dented hoe ; the 

 vegetable and animal manure must be buried in a ditch dug around 

 each tree, but distant from it from 3 to 8 feet, according to its age and 

 size, in order not to disturb the roots. 



Queen olives. There are two varieties of trees which produce the large 

 olives of commerce : 



(1) The Royal or Queen, Sevillian, known as Olea regia Boz., and 

 Olea regalis Clem. The wood of this tree is less hard and lighter in color 

 than that of the wild olive. The branches are tall and straight, the 

 leaves long, and the fruit plum-shaped, its pulp adhering tenaciously to 

 the stone, tardy in maturing, and is gathered green for pickling. When 

 ripe the fruit is of dark violet color. It ripens with difficulty, produc- 

 ing a clear oil of sweet flavor. 



(2) The Sardal Sevillian olive (Olea Hispalensis Clein.), (Olea Hispan- 

 ica). The branches are less vertical than the former variety, the leaves 

 are larger, the fruit is walnut-shaped and aromatic. It is very com- 

 mon in Seville, Yera. and other parts of Andalusia. I have seen a few 

 trees of these two varieties prospering in private gardens near Tan- 

 gier, reared from slips brought from Seville, the fruit retaining its 

 original quality. The queen olives of commerce are not the selected 

 fruit of the common olive, but a particular species of itself, as above 

 described. 



Maturity. In warm climates, and on its favorite soil, the olive tree 

 comes into full bearing on the tenth year from its grafting, or from the 

 plants of slips, cuttings, or stakes. In colder climates they come into 

 full bearing some years later. The olive tree remains fruitful for centu- 

 ries. There is an olive between Villefranche and Nice which was famous 

 for its old age in the year 1515. It measures at its base 42 feet in cir- 

 cumference; its average yield of oil per year amounts to 150 kilograms. 

 (A kilogram has 34 ounces.) In Spain and in the island of Mallorca 

 there are olive trees which were old at the time of the Moorish occupa- 

 tion, and which at present continue to produce enormous crops of fine 

 olives. 



