CLEARING THE LAND FOR AN ORCHARD. 



21 



are obtained from the old neglected trees — relics of the ancient olive 

 orchards — that are scattered over the country (see fig. 2). When such 

 trees do not occur on the estate that is to be planted, the cuttings are 

 purchased from natives who have them. Either the whole tree is 

 uprooted and all the cuttings it can furnish are removed at once with 

 a saw or else only two or three are taken off at a time. In the latter 

 case the usual method is to cut with a hatchet about half way through 

 the root that is selected to furnish the cutting, at two points 8 to 10 

 inches apart. A spade is then struck into the upper cleft and the 

 root is split down the middle as far as the lower cleft, thus leaving 

 unhurt the under half of the root from which the cutting has been 

 removed. The wounds are carefully trimmed with a pruning knife. 

 In this way the root which furnishes the cutting is left attached to 

 the parent tree and continues its functions. 



The truncheons thus obtained are generally 8 to 10 inches long and 

 of very unequal thickness, although said to average 4 inches. The 

 drier the weather and the soil at the time of planting the larger they 

 should be. In no case should they weigh less than 2^ pounds, and 

 they are generally heavier, for the vigor of the tree for the first year 

 or two, at least, depends largely upon the size of the truncheon from 

 which it originates. They retain the bark and should have at least 

 three eyes or buds. If they have roots attached, these are cut off and 

 care is also taken to trim away all rotten wood. The best results 

 are obtained with cuttings taken below the surface of the ground. 

 When of the dimensions just described they will not be injured by 

 exposure for two weeks to the sun and air, but if a longer interval 

 elapses before they are planted they should be wrapped in straw or 

 else buried in the ground until wanted. 



CLEARING THE LAND. 



The first step in establishing an olive orchard at Sfax is, of course, 

 clearing the land of its native growth of -grass and bushes. Where 

 the deep-rooted thorny shrub known as Christ thorn occurs this is 



a Four dozen such cuttings were imported from Sfax by the Department of 

 Agriculture in 1905. They were taken from the trees about February 15 and 

 were covered with soil until the end of the month, when they were packed with 

 wet straw in ventilated wooden boxes and shipped to New Lork, being watered 

 at least once during the voyage. When unpacked at Washington on April 20, 

 only one or two of them showed signs of life. When planted, however, hardly 

 one failed to send up numerous shoots, which by October 15 had reached a 

 height of 4 to 5 feet. They were sent to San Antonio, Tex., Tucson and Phoe- 

 nix, Ariz., and several localities in California. In most cases they have made 

 a good growth, and material for further experiments with this variety seems to 

 be assured. 

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