if 



CFIAPTER IV. 



Cet arbre vient sur tons les terrain^." 



GASrARIX. 



" And first for lieatli and barren hilly ground, 



Where meagre clay and tiinty stones abound ; 

 Where tlie poor soil all succor seems to "svant, 



Yet this suffices the Palladian plant. 

 Undoubted signs of such a. soil are found, 



For here wild olive shoots o'erspread the ground 

 And heaps of berries strew the fields around." 



VIRGIL GEORGICS II. 249. 



The olive will live in almost any soil except a dry and compact, 

 or a humid one. An analysis of the ashes of the wood, leaves, and 

 fruit of this tree give the followino- result : 



WOOD. LEAVES. FKUIT. 



Potash ' 20.60 24.81 | 53.03 



Lime ! 63.02 56.18 i 15.72 



Magnesia : ! 2.31 



Sulphuric Acid ; | 3.09 



Silicate i 3.82 



Phosphoric Acid l 4.77 



Phosphate of Iron | 1.39 



Chloride of Potassum i 1.00 



0.18 



4.38 



3.01 



1.19 



o ■- - 



o./o 



5.58 



3.24 



7.30 



1.07 



2.24 



2.76 



9.56 



100.00 ;1 00.00 1100.00 



The berry, and especially the meaty part, contains a very large 

 proportion of potash, wliile the wood and the leaves abound in lime. 

 This is an important fact. The deduction from it is that a soil, 

 rich in these ingredients, possesses all the conditions necessary for 



