THE OLIVE 



75 



Trees to be set out on the quincunx the olives to be forty-four feet 

 apart one way and thirty the other. This will give a far better 

 result than crowding an acre with over a hundred olives trees. 

 The olive under favorable conditions is a prolific bearer but too 

 much crowding stunts the trees and exhausts the soil. The result 

 is seen in weak and puny trees that bear no fruit. The olive must 

 have sunshine and ventilation and it cannot get it in an orchard 

 where there are one hundred trees to the acre. For a few years all 

 will go well, and then about the time that the trees should give a 

 good return it will be found that the branches interlock and that 

 the orchard forms so dense a mass of foliage that the sun cannot 

 penetrate it, and half the trees will have to be taken out, and re- 

 planted some where else, and there will be the loss of about five 

 year's time resulting from cutting back well grown trees ; this would 

 be in consequence of crowding on level ground, but on hilly land, 

 where the olives rise in tiers, one above the other, an acre will 

 xeadily carry eighty trees. 



The consociation of the olive with other fruits will prove benefi- 

 cial from every point of view. The olive crop is an inconstant one, 

 the natural tendency of the tree is to only bear heavily every other 

 year, it has many enemies, and until the fruit has formed, nothing 

 is assured. 



Too great heat at the critical period of blossoming may be fatal to 

 the hopes of an abundant yield and varying seasons will give differ- 

 ent results. The Italians have an expressive proverb which says : 



" If the olive buds in April, 

 You will gather by the barrel ; 

 If in May appear the buds, 

 You will gather by measureful. 

 But if it lingers until June, 

 The harvest will be but a fistfull." 



Again, 



Golden is the olive of the early budding. 

 Silver that which comes after, 

 The late one is worth nothing." 



