90 



THE OLIVE 



should be cut off, leaving only enough for appearance sake, and the 

 stronger ones pruned long. 



The action of the sap on the buds of a vertical branch is in pro- 

 portion to their distance from the base of that branch. So the new 

 shoots produced by the buds of a pruned branch will be stronger 

 the nearer they are to its base. But if a branch is bent over, or 

 arched, the bud in the highest position will produce the strongest 

 germ, and the rest will be weaker the nearer they approach the ex- 

 tremity. In horizontal branches the case is different. The buds on 

 the upper side are generally stronger than those nearest the ground. 

 So, if the last bud on a branch is on the lower side, and the next to 

 the last on the upper, the latter will be the stronger. 



All branches that grow strong where they should be weak, and 

 vice versa, are contrary to nature and should be cut off. The leaves 

 have a powerful influence over the quantity and movement of the 

 sap. This is augmented or diminished in proportion to their num- 

 ber. If an olive is robbed of its leaves, the flow of the sap is check- 

 ed and the fruit falls. So where a tree has an excess of vigor, it 

 may be contained within more reasonable bounds by thinning out 

 the leaves. 



The wild olive tree, or the tree from seed, if never transplanted, 

 its tap root undipped, is |)erfect]y proportioned, its stem is straight, 

 its bark smooth, its branches arch in beautiful equality, making a 

 perfectly formed crown. But in the cultivated tree, the tree from 

 a cutting, the tree that has already felt the knife, the order of nat- 

 ure has been disarranged and the tree, far from making a regular 

 growth, if left to itself, will often take a most uncouth and ill-pro- 

 portioned shape, and in appearance alone calls for the pruning knife. 



The first six branches left on a young tree, three on each side, 

 become the principal or primary branches of the tree, from these 

 grow others called the secondary which in turn produce those of the 

 third order. From these spring a multitude of small branches and 

 twio;s of one, two and three vears of age. Those of two and three 



