662 FRUIT CULTURE IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES. 



tected from that wind, and languishes in low lands exposed to it. Upon 

 the plains of Mugello and the Borgo San Lorenzo, swept by northerly 

 winds, it will not grow, but nourishes 3 or 4 miles a way on the hills pro- 

 tected by the Apennines. 



Cold affects the olive according as the atmosphere is dry or humid. 

 The same degree of cold is more fatal in spring than in winter, because 

 in the former season, the plant having entered the period of vegetation, 

 the young and tender germs are injured ; so by reason of the greater 

 moisture the cold of the plains is more injurious than that of the up- 

 lands. Nothing is more destructive than the formation of ice upon the 

 branches after snow-storms. The greatest cold which the plant can. 

 resist is about J0 Reaumur ; at 12 not only the leaves perish but the 

 trunk and roots above ground. It sometimes suffers at even 7 when 

 the cold is accompanied with humidity, or when the plant is in a state 

 of vegetation. Sometimes the leaves are destroyed by a frost appar- 

 ently light. The greater part of the olives of Liguria and Tuscany per- 

 ished in the years 1700, 1782, 1820, and 1845. 



As to the soil there is not much difficulty. Only exceedingly light 

 or wet land is bad for the plant. It does better ordinarily in argilla- 

 ceous or calcareous earth, mixed with stones, to which its roots cling, 

 holding steadily against strong winds. 



The olive is propagated in four ways by seeding, by cuttings, by 

 grafting, and by the system called ovolo. 



Italian cultivators generally adopt the last method, but as the others 

 are not unfrequently used it may be useful to give some facts in regard 

 to them. 



The manner of seeding is much the same as with other plants. The 

 olive used for this purpose is selected from trees well grown, of a robust 

 variety, possessing the qualities desired, and is stripped of its oily pulp. 

 Seeding involves the labor of transplanting and improving by grafting, 

 as the new plants raised from a given variety will not reproduce it, but 

 return usually to the wild type. Another objection to this system is the 

 slow growth of the olive. Hesiod said of it, " Those who sow the seed 

 never gather the fruit." However, some use this method, as plants 

 thus obtained have greater dimensions and a more perfect root system. 



When cuttings are used they should be young and vigorous, from 50 

 to 55 centimeters in length, and about the size of a man's wrist. The 

 bark must be bright, smooth, and sappy, and contain towards the lower 

 part some knots, upon which roots form more easily. The cuttings are 

 set in the ground in November in warm localities, and in February and 

 March in temperate. About one-third of the cutting should be above 

 ground, and the upper extremity, where cut, covered with grafting- wax. 

 Although the olive is an exceedingly hard wood, it puts forth roots from 

 cuttings as readily as the willow^ or poplar. Full-grown trees, even 

 when much denuded of roots, can be transplanted from the forest, and 

 often when those in the olive-yards are destroyed they are replaced iu 

 this way. 



