The Olive Tree, 135 



ted States, where the mean temperature of the year is 57° 17', 

 that of the coldest month is only 0° 5', with some days far more 

 intense. The capriciousness of our climate is still more danger- 

 ous to delicate vegetables, than its inclemency; the difference of 

 temperature in a single day is almost equal to that of the whole 

 year in the south of Italy. The olives near Charleston, South 

 Carolina, are rendered barren by the vernal frosts which congeal 

 the young shoots. In a more southern latitude they would be se- 

 cure in the winter, but they would languish through a sultry sum- 

 mer, unrefreshed by the healthful breezes which they respire on 

 the shores of the Mediterranean Sea; they would, besides, find a 

 silicious, instead of a calcareous soil. 



Notwithstanding these obstacles, tracts, uniting the conditions 

 necessary for the growth of the olive, may probably be found suf- 

 ficiently for our own wants. The possibility of its flourishing on 

 our shores, has been demonstrated by several experiments; one 

 in particular which we shall relate. While tile Floridas were held 

 by the EngHsh, an adventurer of that nation led a colony of 

 Greeks into the eastern province, and founded the settlement of 

 New Smyrna: the principal treasure which they brought from 

 their native chme, was the olive. Bartram, who visited this set- 

 tlement in 1775, describes it as -a flourishing town. Its prosperi- 

 ty, however, was of momentary duration; driven to despair by 

 hardship and oppression, and precluded from escape by land, 

 where they were intercepted by the wandering savages; apart of 

 these unhappy exiles conceived the hardy enterprize of flying to 

 the Havanna in an Open boat; the rest moved to St. Augustine, 

 when the Spaniards resumed possession of the country. In 

 178-3, a few decaying huts and sev^eral large ohves, were the only 

 remaining traces of their industry. 



Louisiana, the Floridas, the islands of Georgia, and chosen 

 exposures in the interior of the state, will be the scene of this 

 culture. Perhaps it will be extended to some parts of the West- 

 ern States; it has been hastily concluded that the olive can exist 

 only in the vicinity of tbe sea; it is found in the centre of Spain, 

 and in Mesopotamia, at the distance of a hundred leagues from 

 the shore. The trial should be made in every place where its 

 failure is not certain, and for this purpose, young gi'afted trees 

 should be obtained from Europe, and the formation of nurseries 

 from the Seed immediately begun. 



The olive is perhaps the most valuable, but it is not the only 

 -accession that might be made to our vegetable reign, if a more 

 ■enterprising spirit prevaded in our husbandry, and if establish- 

 ments were formed for the reception of exotic plants. This im- 



