THE OLIVE. 



575 



common species, which are highly worthy of cultivation, as we confess, 

 to our own taste, this nut is much superior to the European walnut. 

 There is indeed no doubt that, with a little care in reproduction by 

 seed, the shell-bark may be trebled in size, and greatly improved in 

 flavor. 



CHAPTER XXIY. 



THE OLIVE. 



Oka Europea, L. ; Oleince, of botanists. 

 Olivier, of the French ; Oehlbawn, German ; Ulwo, Italian ; Oliuo, Spanish. 



The Olive, which, as Loudon justly remarks, furnishes, in its invalu- 

 able oil, the cream and butter of Spain and Italy, will undoubtedly one 

 day be largely cultivated in our Southern States. 



The uses and value of the olive-oil are still comparatively unknown 

 in this country. In the South of Europe it is more valuable than bread, 

 as, to say nothing of its wholesomeness, it enters into every kind of 

 cookery, and renders so large a quantity of vegetable food fit for use. 

 A few olive-trees will serve for the support of an entire family, who 

 would starve on what could otherwise be raised on the same surface of 

 soil ; and dry crevices of rocks, and almost otherwise barren soils in the 

 deserts, when planted with this tree, become flourishing and valuable 

 places of habitation. 



The olive is a native of the temperate sea-coast ridges of Asia and 

 Africa ; but it has, time out of mind, been cultivated in the South of 

 Europe. It is a low evergreen tree, scarcely twenty feet high, its head 

 spreading, and clothed with stiff, narrow, bluish-green leaves. Its dark 

 green or black fruit is oval, the hard fleshy pulp enclosing a stone. In 

 a pickled state the fruit is highly esteemed. The pickles are made by 

 steeping the unripe olives in lye-water, after which they are washed 

 and bottled in salt and water, to which is often added fennel, or some 

 kind of spice. The oil is made by crushing the fruit to a paste, pressing 

 it through a coarse hempen bag into hot water, from the surface of 

 which the oil is skimmed off. The best oil is made from the pulp alone : 

 when the stone also is crushed, it is inferior. 



Propagation and Culture. A very common mode of propagating 

 the olive in Italy is by means of the uovoli (little eggs). These are 

 knots or tumors, which form in considerable numbers on the bark of 

 the trunk, and are easily detached by girdling them with a pen-knife, 

 the mother-plant suffering no injury. They are planted in the soil like 

 bulbs, an inch or so deep, when they take root and form new trees. It 

 is also propagated by cuttings and seeds. The seedlings form the 

 strongest and thriftiest trees ; they are frequently some months in vege- 

 tating, and should therefore be buried an inch deep in the soil as soon 

 as ripe. 



The wild American olive ( Olea Americana, L.) or Devil-wood, a tree 



i 



