SEMI-TROPICAL FRUITS 201 



cultivation is similar to that of the orange, as are the market- 

 ing problems connected with it. 



THE OLIVE 



295. Although the exact origin of the olive is obscure, 

 there is no doubt that it is one of the oldest horticultural 

 possessions of the race. References to it in the Old Testa- 

 ment 1 show that the Hebrews early knew it as a domesticated 

 plant. A myth of ancient Greece relates that in a contest 

 between Minerva and Neptune as to which could give the 

 most useful gift to man, Neptune gave the horse and Minerva 

 the olive. Branches of the olive have been found in the 

 ancient mummy cases of the Egyptians, and early Egyptian 

 sculpture illustrates the manner of the extraction of olive oil. 



The olive was brought to California by the early Spanish 

 settlers. It was first known in the Mission gardens from 

 which its culture spread gradually. In about 1885 a wave of 

 enthusiasm for olive-growing swept the state, and from that 

 time until 1900 extensive plantings were made. Some of 

 these were in such unsuitable locations that they have since 

 been dug up. At the present time the olive is grown com- 

 mercially in California and in parts of Arizona. 



The olive is such a thrifty grower that if the top is cut off 

 new shoots will grow from the stump. The trees may attain 

 a great age, sometimes living three hundred years. The olive 

 is propagated easily by cuttings. It is more tolerant of poor 

 and rocky soils than are other orchard trees, but produces 

 maximum crops of best quality only where the soil is fairly 

 good and the moisture moderately plentiful. The tree is an 

 evergreen, keeping its foliage the year round. It blossoms 

 late in the spring and is, therefore, not especially subject to 

 injury by spring frosts. Hot dry winds, however, sometimes 

 cause the blossoms to drop. Since the olives ripen on the tree 



Deuteronomy XXVIII, 40; Exodus XXIII, 11 ; Deuteronomy XXIV, 20. 



