THE olivp: 39 



growing, first consult the tliermometer. A mean temperature of 

 sixtv-one deii'rees Falirenlieit, from the firsi: of March to the end of 

 December inchisive, will be sufficient guarantee; or this same mean, 

 from the beoinnino- of the fioweiini>: period — sav ]\Iav twentieth to 

 the end of Decend)er — will ripen the 1)erries. Where the summer 

 heat is greater the fruit will ripen earlier. 



The olive begins to move in ^larch at a temperature of tifty-two 

 dei>Tees, it buds at fiftv-nine decrees and Howers at sixtv-seven de- 

 grees. The l)lossoms set at a temperature of seventy-one degrees of 

 heat, and to ri])en the fruit a mininuun of eighteen thousand five 

 hundred de^Tces of heat is necessarv, datini^; from the iieriod in 

 March when it first bei>:an to move. A i>:ood o:eneral rule to relv 

 upon would be, that where one can obtain a mean temperatur(^ for 

 spring of fifty-six degrees; for summer, of seventy degrees; for 

 autumn, of fifty-eight degrees and in winter a mininuun of twentv 

 deo'rees the olive can alwavs l)e successfullv cultivated; bearino- in 

 mind, however, that some vari(^ties re(piire more heat than others and 

 that [)eculiarities in theatnios])here or tliesoil may make it im])ossible 

 to grow the olive even with this temperature. To ol)tain the mean 

 temperature witli the necessary exactitude recpures cai'eful observa- 

 tion at least three times a dav, and a minhnum thermometer to show 

 the lowest temperatures during the niglit and early morning is im- 

 perative. A recent invention, liowever, has simplified this laboi* verv 

 much; it is known as J)rapers' Kecording Thermometer, and con- 

 sists of a dial, driven Ijy clock work, which makes a eompk'te revo- 

 lution in one wTck and as it revolves uiuler a pen attaclied to the 

 thermometer pro})er a curved line in ]'ed ink is drawn on the face 

 of the dial, which sliows ])y lines thereon the exact temperature of 

 the air at every hour during tlie day and night. The only attention 

 this machine requires is to change^ the dial once a week, to Avind the 

 clock at the same time, and to feed the pen with a few droi)s of j)re- 

 pared ink. The weekly record dial is then filed awav, and thus 



