8 



SAMUEL RAE & CO. — LEGHORN, TUSCANY. 



Then much damage is caused by a 

 species of canker to which the name 

 lupa, or she-wolf, is given. An olive- 

 tree to outward appearance quite sound 

 may be internally rotting away. The 

 remedy for this disease is to cut away 

 carefully all the part affected ; hence 

 trees are often to be seen whose trunks 

 are reduced to mere skeletons, as shown 

 in another of our illustrations. Yet 

 in this condition the olive may hold on 

 for years. 



Several insects attack the fruit of the 

 olive, but the worst of these is the 

 olive-fly, miisca daais olece. The rav- 

 ages caused by it in Italy are incredible, 

 and may amount to some millions of 

 dollars in a season ; hence it is the 

 bugbear of the olive grower. This 

 insect is about half the size of the com- 

 mon house-fly, the head is orange- 

 colored, eyes green, back grayish, the 

 wings are transparent, and in the sun- 

 shine iridescent. When the young 

 olives are fully formed, the female com- 

 mences its operations puncturing the 

 fruit and then laying an egg therein. 

 It is estimated that a single fly may 

 thus deposit three to four hundred 

 eggs. The egg develops into a small, 

 white maggot, which eats its way with- 

 in the olive and around the stone until 

 it thus destroys the greater part of the 

 pulp. Passing next into the chrysalis 

 stage, in the course of a few days it de- 

 velops into a fly. 



The olive-fly usually makes its appear- 

 ance in July, and as only about four 

 weeks elapse between the laying of an 

 egg and the development of a new fly, 



* Emile Negrin, "Guide de Nice." ''The 

 olive-tree once used to produce olives, now it 

 produces only keirons ; the keiron is a mischiev- 

 ous maggot, which by dint of eating up the 

 olive berry ends by taking its place. Mon- 



there is ample time for a succession of 

 these destructive operations before the 

 approach of cold weather reduces it to 

 inactivity. Enormous injury has thus 

 been caused to many a splendid crop of 

 olives. The damaged fruit yields little 

 oil and of very bad quality — rank, thick, 

 and nauseous. As yet no means of 

 coping with this insect have been found. 

 It has been suggested that the destruc- 

 tion of small birds in Italy, and particu- 

 larly in Tuscany, which feed upon such 

 insects, may partially account for the 

 great prevalence of the musca olece. 



In the Nice district its ravages are no 

 less redoubtable. ' ' L'olivier produisait 

 autrefois des olives, il ne produit plus 

 maintenant que des keirons ; le keiron 

 est un mechant ver qui, a force de 

 manger I'olive fmit par la remplacer. 

 Monsieur Cauvin a eu beau rediger une 

 brochure contre Tinsecte, Tinsecte ne 

 continue pas moins a ruiner les pro- 

 prietaires, en attendant que les proprie- 

 taires se decident a ruiner et les oliviers 

 et les keirons." * 



In a severe season considerable dam- 

 age may also be done to the fruit by a 

 hard frost, particularly if preceded by 

 snow or rain. The damaged fruit gives 

 a diminished yield of oil, and this ac- 

 quires a darkish color and an unpleas- 

 ant taste. 



Varieties of the Olive-Tree. 



There are in Italy many varieties of 

 the olive, but the precise number has 

 not been ascertained, the same kind 

 often going by another name in differ- 



sieur Cauvin might have saved himself the trou- 

 ble of writing a treatise against this insect, for 

 none the less does the insect ruin the land-own- 

 ers, pending a decision on the part of the land- 

 owners to destroy both olive-trees and keirons." 



