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vives its fifth century/ Relations are made of 

 the bulk of some of these patriarchal trees, 

 too surprising to be repeated unless they 

 were perfectly authenticated ; but in France 

 there are Olives which two men can hardly 

 compass in their arms. 



The main limbs of the Olive are numer- 

 ously divided ; the branches are opposite , 

 and the pairs are alternately placed upon 

 conjugate axes of the limb. The foliage is 

 evergreen , but a part of it turns yellow and 

 falls in the summer, and in three years it is 

 completely renewed. In the spring or early 

 autumn, the seasons when vegetation is in its 

 greatest activity, the young leaves come out 

 immediately above the cicatrice of the former 

 petioles, and are distinguished by their sup- 

 pleness and by the freshness of their tint. 



The colour of the leaves varies in different 

 varieties of the Olive, but they are generally 

 smooth and of a light green above , whitish 

 and somewhat downy with a prominent rib 

 beneath. On most of the cultivated varieties 



1 The monks of Jerusalem affirm that the Olives of the 

 garden of Gethsemane are the same which witnessed the 

 agony of Christ, 



