24 



THE OLIVE 



Group I represents'^tlie olive of the oil pre^s, tlie mo^t developed, 

 cultured and domesticated of all olives. The fruit is of various sizes, 

 very fleshy and oily. Sometimes, however, the olive is not very 

 oily and then is only good for pickling. It is a large tree and above 

 all others produces the best olives for oil. 



Group II consists of middle-class olives, the tree is more rustic, 

 the branches more robust and erect, the fruit more fleshy. Tree of 

 middle stature. 



Group III covers olives oljtained from the seeds of domesticated 

 olives ; the most rustic of cultivated trees. Its branches are robust 

 and erect, its fruit of various sizes but not verv flesh v. A tree nen- 

 erally not growing very Inrge but sometimes of rather good appear- 

 ance. 



Group lY represents the savage ty])e which is not worth culti- 

 vating; because the fruit is small and the stone is larw, with little or 

 no pulp. It grows to a bush or small tree of from ten to sixteen 

 feet in height. 



DESCRIPTION OF OLIVES. 



GROUP I. 



The Bazxo or Frantojano, 



This is the variety mainly cultivated in the provinces of Lucca 

 and Pisa, regions that have a world-wide reputation for their oil and 

 where, also, are found in less numbers the Mignolo, Morajolo, Pun- 

 tarolo and some Grossajo. The twigs of the Razzo are short, light, 

 numerous and rather reflexed. (See Plate III.) It is cultivated 

 in groves on the Pisan mountains where, however, the trees are 

 too near t02:ether and as a result tliev ^vow too liisfh. It will not 

 bear mucli pruning ; all tliat is necessary is to keep it freed from 

 the dead twigs, from shoots that are too high and from branches 



