70 
THE BERBEllIS OR MAHONIA AQUIEOLIUM, 
The olive was held in liigli estimation by 
the ancients. The Greeks dedicated it to 
Minerva, and employed it in crowning Jove, 
Apollo, and Hercules, as well as their em- 
perors, philosophers, and orators. They had, 
moreover, a tradition, that the first branch of 
it was carried by a dove from Phoenicia to 
the temple of Jupiter in Epirus, where the 
priests received and planted it. By the 
Romans also it was higly honoured. {^Cyc. 
Bib. Lit. ii. 278.) 
The olive delights in schistous, calcareous 
steeps, not far removed from the sea. It is 
increased by suckers, large cuttings, and 
pieces of the root, which are best removed 
from the parent in spring and autumn. The 
plants bear at two years old, and in six years 
begin to repay the expenses of cultivation ; 
after that period, in good years, the produce 
is the surest source of wealth to the cultivator, 
as the tree rivals the oak in longevity. The 
best sorts are also sometimes engrafted on 
stocks of inferior kinds. The Olea Oleaster 
already alluded to as the " wild olive," is 
described as bearing very small fruit of no 
value. 
The Provence olive {O. sat/va) is the most 
esteemed of the cultivated sorts ; the Spanish 
( 0. sativa latifolia) bears the largest fruit, but 
they have the strongest flavour. 
THE BEEBERIS OS MAHONIA AQUIFOLIUM. 
Of all the handsome shrubs to plant for 
ornament, iew if any can beat the Mahonias 
as a feature in their proper places, and for 
underwood we do not think there is an equal. 
It is, we wei'e about to say, a beautiful ever- 
green, but the winter tints of the leaves for- 
bid us, for they vary from rich crimson scarlet 
to deep red purple, and a mass of them forms 
one of the most showy objects in nature ; the 
I'ainbow has scarcely more tints, and rarely 
brighter ones, while the general style and habit 
of the shrub are all that the most fastidious 
can wish. It is extremely hardy, and makes 
one of the finest covers imaginable. Planted 
as underwood they should be two feet apart ; 
"they soon close upon the surface and form an 
umbrageous canopy, under which game may 
run about from one end of the domain to the 
other, without being once seen. Hitherto it 
has been treated as a choice shrub, like the 
Rhododendron, Laurustinus, Aucuba japonica, 
and many others that find place in any garden 
of pretension ; but from its seeding very freely 
and throwing up suckers in abundance, it has 
become very plentiful as well as in great 
demand. It bears a good deal of ill usage. 
It vfiil grow in stiff, light, rich, poor, or ordi- 
nary ground ; but, like a thousand other plants, 
it grows, best where it is best used. It will 
do well wherever the laurel grows well, and 
the ordinary soil will be good enough in most 
cases. It is principally propagated by suckers, 
but raised from seeds in vast numbers. The 
seeds are saved, washed from their berries, and 
dried. The beds, four feet wide, should be 
trenched and dressed and properly levelled, 
when the seeds should be sown in the fall of 
the year, not too thickly but very evenly, and 
be raked in carefully. WheiT up they must 
be hand-weeded to keep them clean, and this 
will have to be repeated several times. At 
the fall of the next year, say about September 
or October, they may be planted out in good 
soil eight or ten inches apart, in beds about 
four feet wide, where they have again only to 
be kept clear of weeds ; but if this season 
passes, leave the planting till the next spring 
frosts are over : for unless they be well estab- 
lished before the frosts and thaws come on, 
their roots will be disturbed, and they would 
in such case have to be pressed into the 
ground again. If you wish for short bushy 
plants, pinch out the top shoot, but in general 
you may allow it to take its chance ; some 
will grow every way, and the variety of 
foliage renders it a most desirable shrub in 
many places where more dainty plants will 
hardly grow. In this second bed they will 
do very well two years, when you may select 
the best and handsomest for a new plantation, 
double the distance apart. The remainder 
may be also removed with advantage to a 
plantation by themselves. The equal growth 
of the best and the similar equality of the 
worst, besides giving more room, give them a 
much better appearance than when mixed 
together, for when some are handsome and 
some stunted, the piece looks bad, but sepa- 
rate them, and even the stunted ones look well 
when no better are near them. But for un- 
derwood the whole may be planted indiscri- 
minately, because it- is not at all desirable to 
have the plants equal, and if they were so 
when put out, they would not remain so many 
weeks ; twenty different circumstances would 
operate in favour of some and against others. 
To plant them the ground should be picked 
up with a pick- axe and loosened as far down 
as a spade would dig it, and this in some 
ground is preparation enough ; in other cases, 
where thei'e is but little wood in the way, the 
shrubs m.ight be planted at equal distances, 
the ground being first trenched or bastard 
trenched according to the quality of the second 
spit or subsoil : if this be rich let it be regu- 
larly trenched, turning the bottom spit to the 
