158 The Olive Tree. [Sess. 



agreeable aroma. The oil is largely employed in medicine. 

 It enters into the preparation of plasters, liniments, and 

 ointments. The medical properties of the oil are demulcent, 

 emollient, and laxative. 



Specimens of the olive tree may be seen in several gardens 

 around London. In the neighbourhood of Dublin it survives 

 the winter, but never blooms. In Devonshire and elsewhere 

 in the south of England it bears fruit. But to see the olive 

 growing in perfection in the open one must go to the sunny 

 South, to countries bordering on the Mediterranean — 



" AVhere little Monaco smiles, 

 The old sea-girt town, from the olive groves." 



On the shores of the Black Sea the roads in some places are 

 bordered by hedges of olives. The tree thrives best in a free, 

 loamy, calcareous soil in warm and sunny situations. Hill- 

 sides are preferable to plains for its culture, and proximity 

 to the sea is favourable to it. The fruit produced in lime- 

 stone formations is of the best quality. A great many varieties 

 are cultivated — the long-leaved kind chiefly in France and 

 Italy, and the broad-leaved in Spain. The olive is sensitive 

 to great heat as well as to great cold. Moderate cold is 

 favourable to its growth. It stands cold better when near 

 the sea coast, and inferior varieties resist the cold better than 

 the finer. The olive is said to be the tree of civilisation : it 

 dies out where the population is Mohammedan, for it can 

 flourish only where order and security of tenure exist. Even 

 in a disorderly land one may sow cereals and vegetables, the 

 fruit of which may with luck be gathered in a few months, 

 but the young olive takes fifteen to eighteen years to bring 

 in any return, and an outlook over that length of time is too 

 great for any Mohammedan population. The older it is the 

 more it will produce. The cultivation of the tree even in 

 civilised countries is liable to various mishaps, and too often 

 does the labour of the olive fail. In June, when the tree 

 is conspicuous by its load of blossom, the wind frequently 

 causes the flowers to fall. Eats are particularly fond of the 

 fruit ; and thrushes, starlings, and magpies are also great 

 plunderers. Locusts, too, occasionally come in their thou- 

 sands ; but the greatest damage is done by an insect called 



