OCTOBER 17, 1874.] THE . GARDENERS, CHRONICLE. 489 
THE OI IVE Olive tree, in a coppia climate like that of Mentone, are old, and have become browned by the summer 
ni a i y | m may indeed be said to be indefinite. There are Olive | heat and j; least a year's existence, so that 
& Miustration at fig. IOI represents an Olive tree | trees still alive at Monac co, at the Cap Martin, and | the entire tree ‘often assumes a faded, dingy hue. 
: ] h Riv elsewhere, which are supposed to be coeval with the In early summer, too, the yellow hue of the pollen of 
as aa in greatest luxuriance in the Genoese Riviera. ey" : : 
; ; n Empire. i slow- ig tree, and forms | the male flowers of the Conifers gives a yellowish tinge 
In the South of ance the tree is unmitigatedly ugly. h ; 
FE GE ki Aged cartloads of hard roots, which fill and cover the ground | to the entire tree, owing to their extreme abundance 
] Scany, bia uy ENES etter looking Pease where it stands, When, after several hundred years, | spring the leaves of the evergreen tree form, i 
it is only in the region we have just me that it | the trunk decays, the bark remains alive. As the decay | summer and autumn the old ones are in a great measure 
in anything like perf lon, SO f: rogresses, the tree splits, as it were, into two, t or | cast off, and when winter comes it is all in its glory. It 
beauty is concerned. The famous Corniche road fr more sections. ‘The bark twists and curls round each of | has throw its worn-out, damaged garments, and is 
Nice to Genoa passes for a considerable portion of its | these decayed sections, an tes ne r side. | again clothed in the and beauty of early you 
length through Olive antations similar to that Then, instead of the old tree, we have, in its place, two, Thus, instead of the blown, dust-coloured foliage which 
figured. These belong or the most part to small | three, or more, appareany separate, although in reality the pleasure traveller sees in his autumn journey, the 
proprietors, w whose pr eperti es are sometimes so small n growing from the T ty whey these ir turn | winter paiar "e rp gE _ e, it is true, but fresh 
that they me one Olive tree only. Th llowing ie, new shoots spring up fror e old roots, and thus and beautiful to look at, either from ne rom afar 
tak Dr aks aie wait Sia the li f the tree is indefinitely prolonged ne ol Til iness of the Olive tree foliage in wi also, is 
CeO z ¢ A Med, 7 E i liv s are, from this cause, indescribably sin- | an adve ge. It lets the sun filter pleasantly through, 
on the Shores of the Mediterranean, conveys so acc gular and interesting, presenting on every side evi- | breaking its power without concealing i ri 
Q e Oliv l the Riviera, | dences of hoary old age. Bad „the saga < growth a walk or a lounge in the Olive groves, even in the hot 
ta we @ nnot do better than transfer it to our bove described may be space | mid-day sun, a pleasant resource. 
colum of a few yards: and P D A Pie r pi ally The predominance of these Olive groves gives a very 
Fic. 10I.—OLIVE GROVE ON THE CORNICHE ROAD, NEAR MENTONE. 
In the South of France the Olive tree, however er- | split, gnarled, twisted “curved trunks are picturesque in 
' peculiar s ay Agee to the Mentonian amphitheatre piat to 
tile, is a miserable object. It is generally treated as a | the extreme. e Riv n general—a Scriptural character, if I may so 
lard, is sma varfish, and looks much likea |  ‘‘ The healthy fall -grown Olive tree is ORY very beau- | term a ki he Qlive tree, w hich i is a native of Asia Mitiér 
mutilated dust-covered Willow. As soon, however, as tiful. Itis often large as a fine old Oak, but with — or of Palestine, is the tree of the Holy Land; and is con- 
the Esterel m ins ar sed and Cannes is reached | fewer limbs K more sparse hkg In the variety | stantly mentioned in Scripture. Thus its presence, as 
we enter on a different climate, more protected in winter, | of t i ree generally cultivated on the Riviera the principal feature the spe ibang: vegetation, 
and more suited to its growth. It is allowed to grow as | t minal extremity of branches hangs down, so imparts an Eastern charm to the place, taking the mind 
a forest tree, and at once assumes a dignity atid grandeur | as to give it the characteristic appearance of a Weeping | back to the Mount of Olives, to Jerusalem, a the 
which quite surprises tho a ly seen the W. ing ’ character of the tr red scenes of Holy Writ. We feel that it n such 
S specimens of ‘Za belľľe Provence.’ eOlivetree | is, ev ig l ked ose just men- aland that the events we have read of from our childhood 
is only destroyed by a frost of 15 Bani Fahr., so that it ioned, owin more scanty foliage, and to th wards with reverence and interest too Ve 
is ure k a“ on the y exceptional | extremities of the smaller branches only droopin To | feel pat we are nearer to these scenes tha our own 
winters, as are eate Tpi emat But t oun some who are sad, to mourners, the dense masses of ern mam and we really understand what it is ‘to 
shoots an it a frozen and irremediably tpr, those sombre grey-coloured trees, with hanging foliage, sit ‘under t ne Fig tree,’ and to walk ‘ in the Olive grove.’ 
m the thermometer falls 6° or 7° below the freezin ive a sorrowful, mournful character to the landscape. The branches of the Olive tree are not he into ; 
point. , however, to which this region is ex- | But itis only those who dness in their hearts, a rie spring from the trunk near the ground, or rather, 
Posed, even once i entury, can injure the tree,so | sadness which reflect Nature, a view the Olive | the a generally anod into. tees or thoes branches. 
that it goes on growing indefinit eek and attains its | = in this light. ji The tend, angle, a i 
jer raas period of longevity, as do a. Arte ees that | ever-movin us ma: t | from an ‘theit fa 
r ecountry—the Birch, the Beech | eae n i ms lea 
the Scotch Fir, and the "Like them, | is et eht enhe dark green oth al 
t resists the terrible = of exceptional years, meh 
epr mnnt sagas m Bronka gae apparenti arral: SENS 
ai have succumbed. The longevity | At 
& 
