92 THE OLIVE 



by the stump of tlie branch is a source of danger to the tree. The 

 larger this surface, the more difficult for the bark to close over it, 

 and like injuries to the human body, unless the wound is thorough- 

 ly healed, it may cause the death of the patient. For this reason, 

 if the cut is made perpendicularly to the tree, it presents less sur- 

 face for the sun and rain to corrode, and for the fatal rot to take 

 hold of, and finally eat out the heart of the tree. The cut should 

 be made as cleanly as possible, and some of the wood scooped out 

 in order to help nature cover it again with the bark. The whole 

 should be covered with grafting wax or a mixture of cow-dung and 

 clay. 



If the olive is pruned while the sap is rising, or still worse while 

 in flower, each branch lopped oflF is a mortal stab, a wound througli 

 which the tree will loose its life blood. The sap will run heavily 

 for some days, especially if they are damp and rainy, no time being 

 affi)rded nature to close the outlets made with the pruning knite. 



The tree will have lost, to no purpose, that wdiich might have 

 nourished it, its vigOr will be observed to diminish from that time 

 forth, and little by little it will dry up and die. 



Thus the very great impoilance of early pruning is inculcated, in 

 order to 2:ive time for the closino; of the cicatrices before the I'isini; 

 of the sap in March. 



Experience shows that an olive, although it may not have been 

 pruned in many years, and has not strength to put out new shoots, 

 will flower and fructifv everv year. But in the maioritv of instance- 

 the flower does not set, or if the fruit forms it soon fells off*. All 

 this because the sap canals in the branches are obstructed, if not ob- 

 literated, and the tree cannot receive sufficient nourishment to main- 

 tain its produce. 



On the other hand, if a tree is observed to make wood heavily, 

 and to grow barren and give no berries, it Is a sign that it has been 

 over pruned. Such cases are rare, but wnen they occur the remedy 

 is to make the tree, fast for a while, nrither cultivate, nor fertilize 



