88 



THE OLIVE 



exposes much surface to the sun, which is the object desired. The 

 olive produces fruit on two years wood only. This point the 

 primer should always bear in mind, and direct his efforts to multi- 

 ply these shoots in order to increase production. 



The aim should be to distribute the sap equally throughout ; 

 keep the extension of branches within proper limits, and give air to 

 the interior. Take out the dead wood and fruitless branches, called 

 "gluttons" because they take to themselves the best forces of the 

 tree. Cut out those parts that are not sound or are subject to can- 

 ker. Do not allow the branches to cross each other ; favor new 

 shoots by lateral pruning when there are vacant places to fill. In 

 Provence, contrary to the custom elsewhere, they prune their trees 

 each year, keeping them near the ground. This practice besides 

 rendering the fruit more abundant and fine, permits a more careful 

 gathering by hand. The trees thus treated will not last so long it 

 is true, but this inconvenience is largely compensated by the other 

 advantages attending this mode of pruning. 



The olive has precisely the same mode of vegetation as the peach, 

 with this difference only, that new shoots are easily formed from old 

 wood. The branches and roots of a tree are proportional, contribu- 

 ting mutually to the growth of each other, and therefore the one 

 suffers if the other is cut. If the strong branches of a vigorous tree 

 are pruned very long, the roots are strengthened, the said branches 

 increased in size, the tree runs to wood and does not fructify. If on 

 the contrary they are pruned very short, and the lesser branches 

 taken off also, the tree is weakened and the roots with it. It is nec- 

 essary to take off the lesser branches of a vigorous olive tree, and 

 also the strong branches to a reasonable length, always with the 

 idea of preserving the proportion between the roots and branches. 



The tree is nourished by its sap ; this commences to move with the 

 increase of temperature in Spring, generally in March. Drawn from 

 the soil by the roots, it circulates throughout the tree with increas- 

 ing freedom as it approaches the extremities, where the tender twigs 



