AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 395 



THE OLIVE. 



Its oil, in general, is superseded by our butter, but is on ever3' well 

 set table, and in constant use on all our salads. We ought to raise enough 

 in so7ne of our climates, for we have all, for home use at least. 



The best account of thi's valuable tree is found in the Farm Book of 

 France, " Maison Rustique Du XIX century, a work now, from the begin- 

 ning, a 100 years, adapted to all French farming. We translate from it, 

 for we do not find enough said about it in any other language. 



" Olivier, in Latin, Oho; English, Olivet ree ; in Italian, Ulivo ; in 

 German, Oelhauni. There are now known 16 or 17 species, all exotic to 

 Frjince. It is a tree ordinarily from 20 to 25 feet high, in the south of 

 France, but in Southern Spain, Italy, Africa and East Indies, often more 

 than double that size. Generally, the main trunk rises hardly to ten feet, 

 then branches off, forming a multitude of smaller ones, and usually a kind 

 of regular rounded head. The leaves are coriaceous, (leathery) lance- 

 shaped, green above and silvery white below ; flowers small ; white ; in 

 bunches; one or two only give olives. It flowers in May or June, and the 

 olives are ripe in November. 



The varieties are thus described by Favanti. It was a very celebrated 

 ree in ancient days. It is first named in Genesis, after the deluge, a 

 branch of it being brought by a dove to Noah, while he was still in the 

 Ark. Minerva, the Goddess of Wisdom, intending the most useful gift to 

 man, struck the ground with her lance and up came the the olive ! All 

 antiguity it was deemed a sacred tree. Cecrops, the founder of Greece, 

 established it first in Attica ! or as some say, by Hercules, who planted it 

 on Mount Olympus. It was the crown of Grecian heroes, and at the same 

 time the emblem of peace among all ancient nations. 



The Romans did not permit it to be used for any profane purpose ; they 

 never burned it except as an incense on their altars ' Columella, 1800 

 years ago, says " Olea prima omnium arbovum est," (it is the first of all 

 trees). The Phenicians carried the oil to Spain and exchanged it for bars 

 of silver. 



The Phoceans first took it to Gaul, where they founded the city of Mar- 

 seilles, nearly 2500 years ago. Tarquin, the Proud of Rome, got it a 

 100 years afterwards. Humboldt says it abhors all extremes of climate. 

 Scarcely amj tree has so many, ways of propagation. A limb cut into 

 slips, divided roots, the bark in fragments, shoots at the feet of old trees. 



Layers, the pits. 



The thrush and the blackbird fill their crops with these olives, and 

 generally drop them under the shelter of some rock or bush, where they 

 eat the pulp and drop the pit. Our orchadists find the young trees in such 

 places and transplant them to their orchards, taking up with the roots as 

 much earth as possible. The olire tree is a slow grower. Hesiod (older 

 than Homer,) said that no man ever eat the fruit of one he planted. The 

 tree will show feeble fruit in 10 or 12 years, but not good till 25 or 30 



