50 



with pretty numerous dots well marked on the red or reddish background; 

 not very hoary; fruit rather shiny; skin pretty thick; pulp fleshy, colored 

 by an abundant vinous red juice; pit middling or small, of elongated ovoid 

 form; very late variety. 



OBSERVATIONS. 



The Rouget is altogether a very hardy variety, and very precious for prop- 

 agation in poor land. It thrives in the garrigue (waste lands) soils of 

 Herault even in the midst of calcareous rocks, where it would seem no vege- 

 tation could exist. Under such very unfavorable conditions the Rouget 

 develops to a satisfactory size, and bears regular crops. In the garrigues, 

 covered by a layer of mellow land more or less gravelly, the Rouget bears 

 most every year, and abundantly. The frosts of the very severest winters 

 have spared this variety, and very important plantations can easily be 

 found, the age of which certainly exceed two hundred years on an average. 

 It had multiplied greatly in Languedoc before the development of vine- 

 yards. The Rouget yields an oil of fair quality. A great quantity of this 

 olive is consumed in the form of pickles. For the latter use they are gath- 

 ered up when yet reddish. 



Verdale.* 

 (Figure No. 4, Plate II.) 



Synonymes. — Verdaou, Verdau, Vereau, Aventurier (Frejus). Calassen (Lorgues, Var.). 

 Olea veridula, Gouan, Flor. Monsp. Olea media rotunda viridia, Toumefort. Olivo verdago, 

 Tablada. 



DESCRIPTION. 



This tree is of dwarf habit, half erect and has little vigor; trunk thin, 

 short, conical, canaliculate, with bark rough and greenish gray; branches 

 slightly drooping, principally those at the top of the tree; the tree has the 

 general form of a ball, with a light cover; the roots do not penetrate to a 

 great depth, and the tree is frequently rooted out by strong winds. Shoots 

 scarce, easily grafted. 



Branches are not numerous, upright or slightly inclined, inserted at a 

 right angle, of a dirty yellow or light yellowish gray color; freckles scarce 

 and dim ; knots pretty prominent. 



Leaves, linear, short, very narrow, well characterized by their feeble 

 dimensions. (Length, four to six centim. ; width, one half to three quar- 

 ters centim.) 



Nerves, very prominent, of light green; edges drawn back and forming 

 a regular well marked channel. Mucron not detached, little prominent, 

 little acute, situated in the plane of the leaf, slightly inclined in the direc- 

 tion of its curvature; upper face dull light green, a little wrinkled; under 

 face dull white; limb of medium thickness; petiole short, thin, bent round 

 so as to bring the upper faces of opposite leaves together; all the leaves are 

 situated in the same plane on the branch, and frequently form with the 

 latter a very acute angle. 



The leaves are pretty numerous at the ends of the branches, scarce else- 

 where; cover of the tree light. 



Fruits isolated, never gathered in great numbers, with peduncle of 

 middling length, thin, dirty green, inserted into a shallow depression; big, 



* Fruiting in several parts of this State. At Saratoga it is in bearing on very steep side 

 hills, so steep that they can hardly be cultivated. The trees this year were full of fruit 

 and doing well. 



