672 FRUIT CULTURE IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES. 



they break the roots and seriously injure the trees. A very dry soil is 

 also to be avoided. In the soil best adapted to the olive alkalies, chalk, 

 and phosphates predominate. The calcareo- argillaceous, product of the 

 tertiary calcareous rocks, is the soil of soils for the olive. 



Climatic influences. A moderately moist subsoil suits the olive best. 



The olive prefers a temperate, dry, and equable climate. It does 

 badly in hot climates, in which a southern exposure should be avoided 

 by all means. The temperature from 34 to 95 Fahr. suits the olive : 

 mean temperature, 68 Fahr. 



Rain-fall. In this olive zone the annual rain-fall never exceeds 23 

 inches. The rains are at irregular intervals; a drought of several 

 months being followed by torrents of rain, greatly to the detriment of 

 the crops. 



Bain is beneficial to both trees and fruit, except when the trees are 

 in bloom. It is invaluable in August, as it swells the fruit and thus 

 increases the yield of oil. 



Irrigation. The olive does not require irrigation. When grown with 

 the orange and lemon (which are irrigated) the olive produces heavy 

 crops, but this fruit is good neither for pickling nor for oil ; moreover, 

 trees subject to irrigation grow old prematurely. 



. In the neighborhood of Milazzo it is customary to water the trees at 

 the time of transplanting, 4 gallons to the tree. This is the only irri- 

 gation of the olive in practice in this province. 



Cultivation. The olive is worked three times a year. In October, 

 after the first autumnal rains, when the earth from around the tree is 

 thrown to a distance equal to the length of its branches and made into 

 a low circular mound, thus forming a clean bed for the olives to fall on 

 when the branches are shaken. This embankment also retains the rain- 

 water around the trees. 



In March and April this mound is broken up and the earth is piled in 

 two smaller circles, thus offering as great a surface of the earth as pos- 

 sible to the action of the air. 



About the end of May this earth is leveled. 



As a rule the olive is not manured. There are growers, however, who 

 enrich their trees every two years. They run a trench half way round 

 the tree 5 or 6 feet from the trunk, fill it with manure one year, and com- 

 plete the circle, manuring the other half of the tree the next year. 

 Others open a trench near the tree on the side of the prevailing wind 

 and fill it with manure to strengthen its roots on that side. 



Near Milazzo the trees are manured every other year by turning under 

 lupins and beans. 



Pruning. Olive trees are pruned and suckers removed every two 

 years, from December to February. The head of the tree should be 

 cut back so as to admit of air and light. 



Pickling and Curing. Olives for pickling are gathered green in Octo- 

 ber and November. When destined for the oil press olives are left to 



