These are natives of Asia, but have, beyond date, been extensively
cultivated in Southern Europe. Olive-oil is an important article of
commerce in most countries. Its use in all kinds of cookery, in
countries where it flourishes, renders olives as important, to the mass
of the people, as cows are in New England. It should be a staple product
of the Southern states, to which it is eminently adapted. It is hardy
further north than the orange. With protection, it may be cultivated,
with the orange and lemon, all over the country. Olive-trees attain a
greater age than any other fruit-tree. An Italian olive-plantation, near
Terni, is believed to have stood since the days of Pliny. Once set out,
the trees require very little attention, and they flourish well on the
most rocky lands, that are utterly useless for any other purpose.
Calcareous soils are most favorable to their growth. They are propagated
by suckers, seeds, or by little eggs that grow on the main stalk, and
are easily detached by a knife, and planted as potatoes or corn. Olives
will bear at four or five years from the seed; they bear with great
regularity, and yield fifteen or twenty pounds of oil per annum to each
tree. There are several varieties. Plantations now growing at the South
are very promising.