Page:The Olive Its Culture in Theory and Practice.djvu/82

66 up the mud cover, a little hole is made, through which to give them water during the first year.

Where irrigation is practiced, they do not need to be covered; but otherwise even a layer of grass and weeds, to prevent the direct action of the sun and air on the bark of the truncheons, is of great use. The height which the truncheon should show above ground, should be forty to eighty inches, the greater, in the warmer climate, and the less, in the colder place. The growth of the truncheon is such, that it gives a crop in the third year; whereas the cutting does not bear until from the sixth to the eighth, and then not so plentifully as the truncheon. But the olive tree from a truncheon does not root as well, and is never as vigorous, as that grown from a cutting.

To grow truncheons, instead of despoiling and deforming the trees, is the much wiser course. For this purpose make a trench twenty inches deep. Select branches that will average more than two inches in the narrowest part, and cut them into lengths of twenty inches. Place these upright in the trench, one yard apart, and cover with earth. If on watering, or after a rain, the upper ends are uncovered, carefully cover them again, to protect them from the sun. Towards the end of spring, the truncheons will sprout, and the thicker, cleaner, and newer they are, the more vigorous will be the shoot.

As soon as the young sprouts are seen, the ground should be spaded over, the earth carefully scraped away from the plants, and fresh earth added. In the beginning of July, the ground should be worked over, and again in the early part of August. In parts of the country where irrigation is necessary, they may be irrigated, but generally frequent cultivation, and freedom from weeds, is sufficient to insure a favorable growth. In the spring of the second year, open the trench, uncovering the mother cutting. Sever at the neck of the plant all superfluous shoots. The aim should be, to leave one, two, or three, vigorous ones so distributed around the parent cutting,