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be cut out, and th e stronger shortened, in order to obtain new shoots in every part of the tree. When
th e trees are trained against a wall, the shoots having small leaves may be laid in 4 in. or 5 in. asunder.
The season for the winter pruning, Miller says, is about Michaelmas ; for if left till spring before they
are pruned, they seldom put out their shoots so early. In summer they require no other dressing than
pindiing oft‘foreright and over vigorous shoots, as it is the middling only which are fruitful. In a warm
situation Miller obtained a great quantity of fruit from trained trees ; which, though not very well
flavoured, were of full magnitude, and made a very handsome appearance on the trees. The double and
other varieties, cultivated for th e sake of their flowers, should be pruned, whether in boxes or against
walls, on the same principle.
Subsect. 3. O liv e .— OHea europcria L. ( F l. Grvp.c. i. t. 3 .) \ D id n d . Monog . L. and
Oleiiics B.P. O liv ie r, Fr.; Oehlbaum, Ger.; O lijfb o om , Dutch; U liv o , Ital.; and
O livo, Span.
4895. Th e olive is a low branchy evergreen tree, rising from 20 ft. to 30 ft., with
stiff, narrow, bluish-green leaves. The flowers are produced in small axillary bunches
from wood of the former ycai-, and appeal* in June, July, and August. The fruit is a
boii'ied drupe, of an oblong spheroidal form, hardish thick flesh, of a yellowish-green
coloui', but tm-ning hlack when ripe. The tree is supposed to be originally from Greece;
but it is now naturalised in tlie south of France, Italy, and Spain, where it has been
extensively cultivated for an unknown length of time, for the oil expressed from its fruit.
The tree attains an incredible age. Near Tcrni, in the vale of the cascade of Marmora,
is a plantation above two miles in extent, of very old trees, and supposed to be the same
plants mentioned by Pliny, as growmg there in tlie first centmy. The olive appears to
havebeen cultivated in the botanic garden of Oxford, in 1648, and is generally treated
as a greenhouse plant. With protection from severe frost, Miller says, “ it may be
maintained against a wall in the latitude of London.” In Devonshire, some trees have
stood the open air for many years. Somc trees planted against a warm wall at Camden
House, near Kensington, succeeded so as in 1719 to produce fruit lit for piclding.
4896. Use. At the dessert, and frequently, also, during dinner, unripe olives appear as a pickle,
which, though to those who taste it for the first time, it appears somewhat harsh, yet it soon becomes
extremely grateful, and is said to promote digestion and create an appetite. Pickled olives are prepared
by steeping in an alkaline lessive, to extra ct a p a rt of their bitter ; they are next washed in pure water,
and afterwards preserved in salt and water, to which an aromatic, as fennel, &c., is sometimes added.
The ripe olive, pressed and washed with hot water, furnishes, when skimmed, th e well-known condiment
and corrective, salad oil, employed both in food and medicine. It may be considered as the b u tter of
Italy and Spain.
4897. Varieties. In th e olive countries these are nearly as numerous as the sorts of the grape and fig.
The French (2V. Cours, &c. in loco) describe between thirty and forty sorts. The following are grown
in English nurseries : —
Tlie Common. ( Large-leaved. | Broad-leaved. | Iron-eolourcd. I Twisted-leaved. | Box-leaved.
4898. Pro p a g a tio n . By seeds, cuttings, layers, suckers, and inoculation. The last mode is adopted
where the culture of the olive is conducted with care ; b u t th e olivettes, or olive plantations, are generally
furnished from suckers, which arise abundantly from the roots of old trees. In England, as a
greenhouse plant, it is raised from cu ttin g s; but where it is intended to grow a few trees in the forcing
department, for the sake of their fruit, we would recommend procuring strong plants from Genoa ; these
will produce fruit in three or four years, which th e others will not for a great length of time.
4899. Cu ltu re . Some plants used formerly to be received by th e Italian merchants along with their
imports of orange trees, and were planted, hke them, in pots or boxes ; but in order to grow ihe tree for
fruit, th e modes to be adopted are either planting as standards in th e area, or training on a wall, as recommended
for th e orange and pomegranate. If a house is not devoted to this fruit, one might be
appropriated for it and th e pomegranate ; giving each its respective soil, and recollecting th a t the olive
will not bear a very high degree of heat.
4900. Soil. The olive will grow luxuriantly in a strong clayey richly manured soil, but will not be so
prolific as in a dry, calcareous, schistous, sandy, or rocky situation ; which ought to be imitated in some
degree in the composition prepared for the area or border of the olive-house.
4901. T em p e ra tu r e . T h a t suitable for th e orange will agree with the olive ; b u t it cannot bear so high
a degree of heat as th a t plant, never being found in Africa south of Atlas, nor in the East or W est Indies.
It is also easily affected by cold, but not more so than th e orange.
4902. P r u n in g . The object here is to have a regular distribution of wood of the former year, from the
axils of the leaves of which the flowers spring out. When shoots of three or more years are shortened
for this purpose, they do not produce blossoms ; but wood of th e preceding or current year may be shortened,
and th e shoots proceeding from them will produce blossoms in due course. Ilinging, to induce
fruitfulness, was practised on the olive early in the seventeenth century. (Bosc , in N . Cours, &c. art.
Oliv ie r.)
S u b s e c t . 4. In d ia n F ig , or F r ic k ly P e a r. — Cdctits O p u n tia L., O p iin tia vulg àris
Haw. (K n o r. Thes. 1. t. F . a .) ; Icos. M onog . L. and C a c ti J. Paq uette, Fr.
4903. The genus O p u n tia consists of succulent plants, permanent in duration, singular
and vai'ious iu structure, generally without leaves, and having the stem or branches
jointed, and for the most part armed with spines and bristles. The joints or branches
of the O. vulgai'is are ovate, compressed, and have very small cadaverous leaves coming
out iu knots on their surface, and accompanied by four short bristly spines. The branches
spread near to, or trail on, the ground. The flowers come out on the upper edges ofthe
branches in June and July. The fruit is in the form of a fig or pear, with clusters of
small spines on the skin, which encloses a fleshy pulp of a red or purple colour, and an
agreeable subacid flavour. It is a native of Vfrginia and Barbary, but is now naturalised
in the south of Italy, being found on the rocks at Terracina and Gacta. It was cultivated
in England by Gerard, in 1596, iu the open air, but without bearing fruit. It was
cultivated in the stove by Justice at Crichton near Edinburgh, in 1750, and ripened its
fruit. MOlcr says, “ it will live abroad in England in a warm situation and dry soil ;
but in severe winters will be destroyed if not protected from frost.”
4904. Use. Th« fruit is sent to the dessert in the West Indies ; and might add to the variety of exotic
fruits in this country. Braddick observes {H o r t. T ra n s ., vol. ii. p. 239-), that, in countries where the
frmt abounds, it is considered very wholesome, and though the taste of it is not agreeable to all persons
till after they have eaten of it several times, yet they soon become very fond of it.
4905. S o n s . There are several species of th at division of the genus Cdctus, called prickly pears or figs,
which produce edible fruit in their native countries, as the great Indian fig, or upright prickly pear
{ 0 . TUna) {P la n t, g ra s s . 138.) ; oblong Indian flg (0 . Ficus Indica) {Re ich., vol. ii. p. 470.) ; Barbadoes
gooseberry (Peréskfo aculeàta H aw .) \ {D ill. eU. t. 227. f. 294.) : the 0 . vulgàris is deemed the most
hardy, and consequently is the easiest to fruit in Britain ; but there can be no doubt that the other sorts
might also be brought to mature their fru it with very little expense or trouble. They are a t present
kept in dry stoves for the sake of variety.
4906. P ro p a g a tio n a n d cu ltu r e . All th e above sorts may be propagated by seed or cuttings : the
latter mode is most common. Cut off the branches at the joints, in Julv, or after the plants have done
flowering, and let them dry for a fortnight, that the wounded part may be healed over ; then plant in
small pots, and plunge in the bark-bed, or in a moderate hotbed, watering sparingly, giving air to avoid
damps, and shading from th e midday sun.
4907. So il. Miller recommends the following:—one third of light fresh earth from a pasture ; a th ird
pa rt of sea-sand ; and th e other part, one half rotten tan, and half lime rubbish. These are to be mixed
and laid in a heap, th ree or four mouths before using, turning it over once a month ; then pass it through
a rough screen, but do not sift it fine ; reserving some o fth e small stones and rubbish to lay a t the bottom
of the pots, in order to keep an open passage for th e moisture to drain off. T h e Barbadoes gooseberry
requires less lime- rubbish and more of vegetable earth.
_ 4908. T em p e ra tu r e . All the sorts, except the prickly pear, require th e temperature o f a dry stove
in wmter, and an increased degree of heat, say 80° or 90°, in summer, when it is intended they should
produce fruit. They may either be planted in large boxes, filled with th e soil above described, with a
portion of vegetable mould added ; or in borders to be trained on a wall or trellis near the lig h t. In either
case, by supplying them liberally in summer, whilst in a growing state, with heat at bottom and top, air,
light, and some moisture, they will thrive abundantly, and produce fruit certainly not of exquisite flavour,
but agreeable and singular, and worthy of being added to the British dessert.
4909. Culture q f the p r ic k ly p e a r in ih e open a ir . Braddick, having eaten, with pleasure, of this fruit
in Virginia, was desirous of cultivating it here. He recollected th a t th e plant in its wild state delighted
in a dry soil amongst rocks, near the skirts of the sunny sides of the forests ; and having heard th at it
would stand the open air in this country, he planted it in the compost described below, placed in a sheltered
situation open to the sun. “ T h e first plant that 1 turned out has lived in the open ground of this
country for six or seven years, during which period it has endured one exceedingly hard winter, and
several trymg springs ; and in all, except the first two years, it has never failed to ripen its fruit and
seeds, so th a t it may ^ now considered decidedly acclimatised. T h e compost used by me for growing
th e Opuntia vulgàris is the followmg :—one half is carbonate of lime, for which lime-rubbish from old
ildings will answer ; th e remaining half consists of equal portions of London clay and peat-earth,
havmg the acid neutralised ¿ barilla : these are intimately blended and sifted. One square yard of this
compost I conceive to be sufficient for one plant, which must be placed in the middle of a small artificial
hillock, raised 18 in. above th e surface of the ground, which ground should be rendered perfectly dry,
if not naturally so, by under-draining. Neither th e leaves, flowers, nor fruit should ever he suffered
to touch the ground, but they should, as constantly as they are produced, be kept from th e earth by
placing stones, pebbles, flints, or bricks under them, in imitation of artificial rockwork.” {Hc/rt. T ra n s ..
p. 238.) ’
4910. The Torch Thistle, or u p r ig h t Cereus, of which there are four species which bear edible fruit, and
the S tra v jb e r r y P e a r (Cèreus triangularis H aw .), th e p o ir e d e ch a rd o n o fth e French, may also be cultivated
as fruit-bearing stove plants, in th e same way as recommended for the Indian fig.
S e c t . IH. E x o tic a nd T ro p ic a l F r u its little known, some o f w hich m e rit C u ltiv a tio n f o r
th e ir E xcellence o r R a rity .
4911. T h e introd uction and c ultiva tio n o f new exotic fr u it s may be considered as a very
rational and entertaining object, for sucb as have the means, the time, and a taste for
gardenmg. It seems to deserve the particular attention of retired persons of solitary
habits, aged or inactive, by presenting an end to be attained ; it may serve as a gentle
stimulus to such as, from indolence or bilious complaints, are apt to sink into a state of
torpid unenjoyed existence. A few of the
plants, which we shall here enumerate, have been
cultivated so as to produce fruit in tliis country,
as the granadilla, lee-chce, loquat, banana, &c. :
most of the others have hitherto seiwed only to
increase the variety of our stove or gi-eenhouse
plants.
4912. The A kee T r e e is the B llg h ia sá p id a H. K. {A n n .
R o t. 2. t. IG, 17.) ; Oct. Monog. L . and S a p in d i J . { fig .
836.). It is a tree rising from 20 ft. to 25 ft. in height, with
numerous branches, and alternate pinnate leaves, like
those of the common ash. The flowers are small, white,
on axillary racemes. T h e fruit is a pome, reddish or
yellow, about the size of a goose’s egg, with a pulp of a
grateful subacicl flavour ; and in th e West Indies it is
esteemed very wholesome and nourishing. It is a native
of Guinea, and was introduced into Jamaica in 1778, and
thence brought to this country in 1793.
4913. P ro p a g a tio n a n d c u ltu r e . It may be propagated
by seeds, cuttings, or layers ; but as the former mode
would prolong the period of culture for fruit, and the latter
two produce but weak plants, the better plan would be
to order a few trees to be inoculated in Jamaica, and then
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