THE FLOWERS AND FRUITS OF SCRIPTURE. 
67 
that material!}' contributed to his success, and 
we may thus be deceived, if we are not careful 
to learn all. The men, then, who persevere in 
their old practice until they are convinced by 
repeated facts that they can improve, are, in 
the main, right ; but there are faults besides 
that of wasting their dung, that no excuse 
can be made for, the neglected straggling 
nature of their hedges, in some cases over- 
spreading an enormous quantity of land, fre- 
quently laying waste several yards in width the 
entire length ; whereas the most inexperienced 
man must know that a good hedge, two feet 
thick in the thickest part, is enough and to 
spare. Ditches, foul and irregular, are a 
match for the barbarous hedges; these are 
faults which proclaim the most palpable igno- 
rance, idleness, or obstinacy, or all three. 
We are no advocates for fast men ; we have 
seen them running along the road to science 
at a great pace, and have to retrace their 
steps, while the loiterers, as they have been 
termed, have passed quietly along, and arrived 
sooner at the desired goal. Let industry and 
economy be apparent in the state of their 
hedges, farms, roads, and dung-yards ; but 
there is no occasion to follow every theorist 
through untried roads, and begin a new line 
of business in farming, until it is proved 
better than the old. 
THE FLOWERS AND FRUJTS OF SCRIPTURE. 
The olive is the emblem of peace and 
plenty, and has in all ages been held in pecu- 
liar estimation, as the bounteous gift of Hea- 
ven. In the sacred text two kinds of olive 
are referred to, one of which is distinguished 
as the "wild olive." The identity of the 
" oil-olive" tree with the Olea europea does 
not seem to be questioned ; but some totally 
different plants have been suggested as the 
" wild olive" of the New Testament. One of 
these is the Rhus cotinus, which however can 
have no claim to be regarded as the plant 
referred to. With more appearance of truth a 
species of Elasagnus has been suggested, and 
this suggestion has gained some support from 
the trivial name of wild olive or Oleaster, 
which is applied to the Elasagnus family ; 
moreover, a species of oleaster is common in 
Palestine, and bears some resemblance to the 
true olive in several particulars, such as in 
the form and appearance of the leaves, and in 
the shape of the fruit, also in yielding a kind 
of oil, which is expressed from its kernels. 
The Elceagnus angustifolius of botanists is 
the plant alluded to. 
The "wild olive" is only mentioned by St. 
Paul in his letter to the Roman Christians, 
<md is made the basis of a very beautiful figu- 
rative argument. Alluding to the extens ; on 
of the Gospel to the Gentiles, and the rejec- 
tion of the Jews as exclusive participators in 
its blessings, he writes to his Gentile con- 
verts : " If some of the branches be broken 
off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert 
graffed in among them, and with them par- 
takest of the root and fatness of the olive 
tree ; boast not against the branches." 
There is of the olive tree, as of most others 
which are extensively cultivated for profit, 
the wild or original kind, which is also called 
Olea Oleaster, and certain varieties improved 
by cultivation, of which the best is that named 
Olea satica; by those who regard these as 
forming but varieties of one species — Olea 
europea — the former is called communis, and 
the latter, longifolia. That the "wild olive" 
of St. Paul refers to the original kind, and 
the "natural branches" to the cultivated kind 
The Olive. 
or kinds, appears scarcely to admit of doubt, 
when the reference to the practice of grafting, 
which must have been known to the Romans, 
is taken into consideration ; for the operation 
of grafting is well known to be restricted 
within narrow limits, those plants which are 
constitutionally allied only admitting of this 
F 2 
