274 NUTS AND SUBTROPICAL FRUITS 



Olive orchards are, set at varying distances between the trees, 

 fifteen, twenty, twenty-four, or thirty feet are found in California. 

 In some countries olives are grown as border trees along fences, 

 roads, etc. 



Thorough cultivation should be given the orchard each year 

 until time to sow a winter cover crop. The green manure from the 

 cover crop is plowed under each spring and other fertility added if 

 needed, particularly while the trees are young. Orchards that are 

 irrigated are cultivated after each watering. 



Pruning must be done each year. At first remove the lower 

 branches to make a free trunk of about thirty inches. The head 

 limbs should be cut back every year. Thin out one-third of the 

 small limbs from the body of the tree. The fruits are improved by 

 thorough pruning. It also aids in control of the olive-fly and scale 

 insects. Olive-knot disease is also controlled by cutting away 

 the affected parts. 



Harvesting olives is a tedious task, as they should be picked by 

 hand. They are allowed to all ripen on the trees as nearly as 

 possible and then are all picked at one time, if the product is to be 

 used for ripe olive pickles or for oil. 



Oil is extracted from ripe olives by pressing, grinding, and 

 re-pressing. 



Pineapples. — This fruit is well known in all American markets. 

 It is produced in Florida, southern California, Porto Rico Hawaiian 

 Islands, the Philippines, and elsewhere. 



Propagation is successful by several methods: (1) By crowns — 

 the tuft of leaves at the top of the fruit. This method is not 

 much used as the crowns are shipped with the fruits. (2) By slips, 

 or buds produced hi the angles of the leaves at the base of the fruit 

 These may be saved and planted. (3) By suckers from buds on 

 the old stem above ground. These make several inches of growth 

 and send down roots of their own. This is probably the most 

 common method of propagation. (4) By rattoons, which are under- 

 ground shoots from the main stem. These form roots and may be 

 left growing when the old stump is taken out. 



Soils and Culture. — Pineapples are partial to well drained soils. 

 The soil need not be rich in organic matter, but it should be well 

 supplied with plant food by means of commercial fertilizers. In 

 Florida the spruce-pine lands are much used for growing this crop. 



The plants are usually set in beds of several rows so they may be 

 worked with hoes from the sides (Fig. 191). The rows vary in 



