TTIK OLIVR IN VENKTIA. 697 



from rt possible excess of cold. The olive perishes if exposed to a tem- 

 perature of 11° or 12° centigrade below zero ( = + 10° or + 12° Fahr.), 

 and if attacked at the season of renewed vegetation, even at —7° or —8° 

 centigrade (=+19° or +20° Fahr.). 



PRUNING AND CULTIVATING, 



A geiiornl prnnino: takes place in spring as soon as all danger of re- 

 turning frost has disappeared, when decayed or suffering branches, as 

 well as those which have borne fruit for several years, are removed, leav- 

 ing the sap to be engrossed by the young sprouts of the year, it being 

 the nature of tlie olive to put forth and nourish, during one season, the 

 branches which are to bear fruit the next, as the multiplication of these 

 branches tends constantly to disseminate the productive force in a 

 thicket of unprofitable shoots, in whicli case the tree will give a satis- 

 factory crop only once in two or three years. Constant pruning is nec- 

 essary to concentrate its vitality. No less attention is required to com- 

 bat the effort of the upper limbs, the so-called ghiottoni — gluttons — to 

 draw the sap of their own vigorous growth at the expense of the fruit- 

 ful branches lower down. The best bearing olives are generally kept 

 low, often with pendent bongbs, and this practice becomes a necessary 

 precaution in exposed and windy situations. 



YIELD OF OLIVES. 



It is extremely difiBcult to fix the normal yield of olives in a region 

 where their cultivation is so precarious, and where the success of the 

 crop is more subject, perhaps, than that of any other to the influence of 

 the season. Without careful and intensive cultivation the plant be- 

 comes savage and bears nothing. With the best treatment it will give 

 6 to 8 liters (7 to 8^ quarts) at 10 years, 16 quarts at 17 years, and 32 at 

 25 years ; but this only in exceptionally favorable years, with refreshing 

 rains in August and September. 



It has already been stated tha<t the olive in no case commences bear- 

 ing fruit before the age of 6 years. It reaches a great age, 600 to 800 

 years on the average, frequently 1,000, or more. Researches, more or 

 less reliable, have been published, affirming that each cultivated plant 

 gives during its existence an average product of 10,356 kilograms of 

 oil, varying infinitely, of course, with the age and nature of the tree 

 and mode of culture. 



GATHERING- AND PREPARING THE OLIVES. 



Olives intended for the press are gathered at full maturity in Octo- 

 ber, November, and even as late as January, with much difference of 

 practice in this respect, as the fruit of the same tree ripens with very 

 uneqnal promptness and grows richer in oil to the last moment. On 

 the other hand, if over ripe, the oil is much more subject to become 



