THK OLIVi; IX ITALY. 



641 



The olive leaves last from two to three years, and grow matched on 

 the branches one against the other, as Fig. 1. 



FIG. 1. 



Climate. The olive plant is one of those generally liking warm cli- 

 mates, and in a changeable temperature it grows well, and fructifies 

 even exposed to any direction. The extreme limit of its vegetation is 

 marked about the 45 north latitude. Excessive heat and intensely cold 

 weather are injurious to its culture. In fact, beyond the African At- 

 lantic the olive plant is seen no more. As Humboldt remarked, in his 

 voyages in the several parts of South America, and as Poiteaux ob- 

 served at Cajenna and St. Domingo, that if the plant could vegetate in 

 those regions, it would never bear fruit. Some writers have asserted 

 that the olive plant wants to grow near sea, and they have even estab- 

 lished the extreme limit, beyond which, under this respect, the plant 

 does not find the necessary conditions for its vegetation. This opinion 

 lias, however, been contradicted and proved by the fact that many 

 olive trees are seen growing and producing well in the interior of con- 

 tinents and very far from sea-shores. If the olive plant shows its pref- 

 erence near sea it is because there the temperature is more suitable to 

 its vegetation. The olive tree commences to vegetate when the temper 

 at ure is at 12 centigrade^ above zero, and blossoms at 18 or 19 centi- 

 grades. A temperature of 5 below zero, followed by a sudden thaw, 



