OLIVE. 
43 
will degenerate, if neglected, so as to approach the 
wild species in every respect. Under the most un- 
favourable circumstances the olive will produce its 
fruit. M. Amoreux saw one that had been totally 
neglected, grown into a perfect bush, choked with 
suckers, and damaged by cattle ; nevertheless, in 
this state it bore fruit, though they Were smaller 
and less numerous than when the tree was carefully 
looked after. 
The propagation by seeds is almost rejected as 
too tedious a process. The common method is said 
to be by shoots, which, when care has been taken 
to engraft them properly, bear fruit in the space of 
eight or ten years. These shoots are engrafted 
when in flower ; unless the operation has been de- 
layed and the tree bears fruit ; when it is thought 
sufficient to take off a ring of bark, two fingers 
breadth in extent, above the highest graft. The 
trees are planted in rows at a considerable distance 
from each other, and in a quincunx order : the best 
season to plant them in is the spring, at least in 
France, where they are more subject to severe win- 
ters than in Italy. 
When olives are intended for preservation, they 
are gathered before they are ripe, and put into a 
tub of pickle, consisting of salt and water, flavoured 
with fennel, coriander, and rose-w r ood. Formerly 
they used a mixture of a pound of quicklime, with 
six pounds of newly sifted wood ashes ; but of late, 
instead of these materials, they use nothing but a 
lye. This, it is alleged, softens the olives, makes 
