Page:The Olive Its Culture in Theory and Practice.djvu/68

56 to the tree as well as being a centre for the propagation of harmful insects. The suckers about the root are nourished to the detriment of the tree. The roots of the olive lie remarkably near the surface and these are the parts of the tree needing fertilization which should never be attempted nearer than a yard from the trunk. In cold regions, that is on the northern limit, sheep and goat dung is found to be an excellent manure; in temperate parts, stable ordure is good, and in hot regions cow dung is the best. It has been calculated that two hundred and twenty pounds of manure are equivalent to one gallon of oil. The foliage which falls naturally and decays under the trees every year, is eleven pounds per tree. The weight of these leaves is to the weight of the fruit as 71 is to 100. The leaves taken off with the branches in pruning, supposing that operation is performed frugally and regularly, amount annually to a little more than a pound per tree. This foliage which is not restored to the soil, represents a weight of 5.50 per 100 and this is the 18th part of that which clothed the whole plant. The wood lost to the olive by meteorological accidents, and by pruning, may be estimated at seven pounds to the tree. The wood and leaves obtained by pruning are to each other as the number 78 and 22 are to 100. That is to say, in one hundred pounds of prunings there would be 22 pounds of leaves to 78 pounds of wood. With these data for a basis, the actual annual loss of the olive may be estimated as follows:



Manure is the dressing most commonly used for the cultivation of the olive, and is best administered when mixed with other fertilizers. Each year the amount of compost necessary to restore to the soil the principles essential to fertility, would be thirty-six pounds per tree, and that, a tree of medium size and one moderately pruned.