96 
OLIVE TREE. 
co-boxes, etc. The wood of the roots, which is more agreeably marbled, 
is preferred. 
The Olive accommodates itself to almost every variety of soil ; but it 
shuns a redundancy of moisture, and prefers loose.; calcareous, fertile lands 
mingled with stone, such as the territory of Attica and of the south of 
France. The quality of its fruit is essentially affected by that of the soil, 
it succeeds in good loams which are capable of bearing corn, but on fat 
lands it yields oil of an inferior flavor, and becomes laden with a barren 
exuberance of leaves and branches., The temperature of the climate is a 
consideration of more importance than the nature of the soil, as all the 
varieties of the Olive dread the extremes both of heat and cold. Neither 
do they delight in very low or in very elevated situations, but rather in 
gentle declivities with an exposure adapted to the climate, where the fresh 
breezes, playing among the branches, may contribute to the health of the 
tree and to the fineness of the fruit. 
Notwithstanding the delicacy of its complexion, the Olive is extremely 
tenacious of life. When the trunk has perished by frost or by fire, it sprouts 
anew, and we are assured that if a bit of the bark, with a thin layer of 
wood, is buried in the earth, it becomes a perfect plant. 
In this respect the Olive is the polypus of vegetables. It is multiplied 
by all the modes that are in use for the propagation of trees : by sowing 
the seed, by layers, by slips, by cuttings of the root, and by sprouts sepa- 
rated from the trunk or from the roots of the parent stock. The most obvious 
method, that of forming nurseries from the seed, is generally censured in 
books, and rejected in practice : the difficulty of obtaining the young plants, 
and the length of time which must elapse before they begin to reward the 
labor of the husbandman, have discouraged its adoption. But, if these 
objections could be obviated, this is doubtless the most eligible practice. 
As the plants thus reared begin a new life, they are more vigorous and of 
longer duration than off-sets from an old tree ; they form also a perpendic- 
ular root, which penetrates deeply and secures them from the danger of 
suffering by drought. 
In most of the experiments that have been made of this method, the fruit 
has been sown entire ; and this is even enjoined, as a necessary precaution. 
But, however it may seem to be indicated by nature, such is not her own 
process. The stones which produce the Wild Olives are deposited by 
animals that digest the pulp, or by birds that carry away the fruit in their 
beaks, devour the pulp and leave the stones to take their chance with the 
elements. The principles of vegetable physiology, also, support the con- 
clusions derived from these observations. The pulp not only invites the 
depredations of animals, such as field-mice, pies, etc., but this oily envelope, 
by preserving the shell from moisture, prevents its decaying in season for 
