THE OLIVE 



93 



nor prune it, for several years, when the good effect of this treat- 

 ment will be apparent. 



The top of an olive, the parts to which the sap flows with most 

 abundance and activity, should be considered as a vigorous tree, 

 while the lower part which receives less, as a weak tree. So the 

 primer should take off the strong upper branches and leave the les- 

 ser ones, and reverse the process with the lower part, lopping off the 

 puny branches and leaving the more vigorous. 



To prune in winter at a period of frost is dangerous. The limbs 

 are exceedingly brittle at this time, and break off at the slighest 

 provocation. 



When the tree is provided with sufficient branches to clothe it, 

 the real work of the pruner begins, which is to oblige it to bear 

 fruit. To open a tree to sun and air is not to strip it of all shade. 

 Its leaves are necessary to prevent the scorching of tender bark and 

 young leaves by the sun. The variety should indicate the treat- 

 ment. The Spanish Manzanillo, which has been planted to some 

 extent in California is sparse of leaf and requires the knife only to 

 a limited degree, and then principally in cleaning rather than prun- 

 ing. All pruning that is ill timed or out of season does harm, and 

 may be an actual drawback by obstructing and impeding the natural 

 flow of sap. Still the olive with the tremendous strides that its vege- 

 tation makes, really demands the knife. If left to itself its center 

 becomes a mat of cris cross branches, its growth ceases, and it falls a 

 prey to a variety of diseases. There are two classes of branches 

 that the olive should be deprived of : 



First, the irregular, the unfruitful, the diseased, the dead or 

 dying. 



Second, all useless branches, over and above what the tree is able 

 to carry, even though they should be the fruit branches of the fol- 

 lowing year, and all the "gluttons." 



An olive tree that is heavily loaded down with branches or with 

 fruit, is in a far from healthy state and by its appearance alone 



