THE OLIVE. 
CO 7 
valuable in tlie world. With respect to its longevity, we may 
remark, that there is a celebrated plantation near Terni, in Italy, 
more than five miles in extent, which, there is every reason for 
believing, has existed since the time of Pliny. 
The olive is not a very tender tree. It will thrive farther 
north than the orange. The very best sites for it are limestone 
ridges, and dry, crumbling, limestone, rocky regions always 
produce the finest oil. The tree, however, thrives most luxuri- 
antly in deep, rich, clayey loams, which should be rendered 
more suitable by using air-slacked lime as manure. It requires 
comparatively little pruning or care, when a plantation is once 
fairly established. 
Varieties. — There are numberless varieties enumerated in 
the French catalogues, but only a few of them are worth the 
attention of any but the curious collector. The common European 
olive is, on the whole, much the best for general cultivation, 
yielding the most certain and abundant crops. 
The sub-variety most cultivated in France is the Long-leaved 
Olive ( Olea , e. longifolia ), with larger and longer leaves ; tho 
fruit nearly of the same size as that of the common olive. 
The favourite sort in Spain is the Broad-leaved Olive ( Olea 
e. latifolia ). Its fruit is nearly double the size of the common 
olive, and yields an abundance of oil, but the latter is so strong 
in flavour as to be more relished by the Spaniards than by 
strangers. 
The Olivier a Fruit Arrondi (Olea spherica , N. Duh.) is a 
hardy French variety, which, in a moist, rich soil, yields most 
abundant crops of fine oil. 
The Olivier Pleureur (Olea eranimorpha , N. Duh.), or 
weeping ofive, is one of the largest and finest trees. Its branches 
are pendant, its fruit excellent, and the oil pure and abundant 
It is a very hardy sort, and grows best in damp valleys. 
The Olivier Picholine ( Olea oblonga , N. Duh.) yields the 
fruit most esteemed for pickling. It grows quite readily in any 
tolerable soil, and is one of the hardiest varieties. 
There are two varieties of the olive, which are said to have 
been found not long since in the Crimea, lats. 45° and 46°, 
which bear abundant crops of fine fruit, and the trees endure a 
temperature in winter of zero of Fahrenheit. These sorts have 
not yet been introduced into this country ; and though it is a 
desideratum to obtain them and test them at the South, yet it 
is not unlikely that, in common with many trees similarly re- 
ported, they may prove little different from the common olive. 
30 
