THE OLIVE 71 



after the graft has taken. Manured and phiced in good earth, the 

 olive requires only three years to form after having been grafted. 



The grafts should be taken from that part of the tree which is 

 opposite the mid -day sun. They are chosen from the shoot that 

 would bear fruit the followino; year. 



Those who graft the young tree upon the trunk and not upon the 

 mother branches, take the scions from the shoots which are about to 

 flower. 



SUCKEES, KXOTS, LAYEES AND EOOTS. 



The knots, or knobs seen on the trunks of olives that have attain- 

 ed any age, are caused by brushing off the suckers that ])ut out on 

 the trunk. The bark forms over the wound made, and a slio^ht ex- 

 crescence is raised, wliich persistently sends out further shoots, and 

 the same process being repeated a multitude of times, the final re- 

 sult is a knob, or egg, of varying size. These, cut from the tree and 

 planted at a depth of from f )ur to six inches, give birth to an innu- 

 merable quantity of young plants, and is the favorite mode of prop- 

 agating in certain mvts of Italy, having superseded that by cuttings 

 altoo'ether. 



The sucker is a developed egg or knob, having germinated while 

 on the tree. 



These knobs shoukl be cut from the tree with a shar]> instrument 

 and the wound carefuUv smoothed over and covered with clav or 

 grafting wax. A mixture of cow-dung and clay make a cheap sub- 

 stitute for tlie latter. But the weight of opinion is against this mode 

 of pro] agation. The wounds caused the tree are grievous and hard 

 to be borne. They give an opening to the ''Lupa" or rot which is 

 ready to attack the olive on the slio-litest provocation. Onlv a doom- 

 ed tree should be dismembered in this way. 



The suckers about tlie root of an olive mav be laid down and cov- 

 ered with earth and will give further plants. 



The underground portion -of the olive tree is composed of two 



