120 THE OLIVE 



offspring is assured. Then the fly appears ; it usually lives from 

 twenty to thirty days on the trees, passing from branch to branch 

 and sucking the sap wherever found. It is rather torpid during the 

 cool weather but very agile when it grows warm. 



The damage caused by this fly consists in the consumption of 

 from one-third to one-half the pulp of the berry, thus diminishing 

 the vield of oil and in leavins: inside the seed a mass of excrement, 

 which deteriorates its quality. 



There are three expedients for combating the olive fly : 



First — To gather the fruit as soon as it is barely ripe, and crush 

 it at once, thus destroying the larvae and pupae within and pre- 

 venting further multiplication. The localities most afflicted by 

 these pests are those where the harvesting of the olive is protracted 

 through the winter and part of the spring, either from lack of suffi- 

 cient help, or to make the white oil, as is done in Lucca and on the 

 Riviera. These, in fact, are the regions devastated most frequently 

 by this fly. 



Second. — To keep the trunk of the tree clean and to spray the 

 trees after the harvest is over with something strong enough to 

 kill the pupae, and taking care that not even one berry remains on 

 the ground. 



Third. — To cultivate the o'round well about the tree, after first 

 shaking it and thus to bury all olives containing eggs, larvae, or 

 pupae. The fruit when "picked should not be kept in heaps, or the 

 heat engendered w^ill cause the flies to hatch immediately. 



This closes the list of insects that are known to prey upon the 

 olive. Some we already have wdth us, others a close degree of 

 scrutiny may reveal, and still others let us hope w^e may ever be 

 spared. 



PARASITIC PLANTS OR VEGETABLE ENEMIES. 



The olive tree is also subject to injury from the action of several 

 parasitical plants of which the principal and best known are the 

 following. 



