( i3 ) 



i A week after the expanding of the flower, 

 the corolla fades and falls. If the calyx 

 remains behind, a* favourable presage is 

 formed of the fruitfulness of the season ; 

 but the hopes of the husbandman are lia- 

 ble to be blasted at this period by the 

 slightest in tempera teness of the elements, 

 which causes the germ to fall with the 

 flower. Warm weather, accompanied by- 

 gentle breezes, that agitate the tree and 

 facilitate the fecundation , is the most pro- 

 pitious to his vows. 



The fruit of the Olive is called by bo- 

 tanists a drupe : it is composed of pulpy 

 matter enveloping a stone, or ligneous shell 

 containing a kernel. The olive is ovate , 

 pointed at the extremity , from six to ten 

 lines in diameter in one direction, and 

 from ten to fifteen lines in the other : on 

 the wild tr.ee it hardly exceeds the size of 

 the red currant. The skin is smooth , and , 

 when ripe , of a violet colour ; but in cer- 

 tain varieties it is yellowish or red. The 

 pulp is greenish, and the stone is oblong, 

 pointed, and divided into two cells, one 



