Page:Travels & discoveries in the Levant (1865) Vol. 1.djvu/109

Rh These plantations run up the sides of the hills as high as there is sufficient depth of soil, above which the wild olive grows among the rocks nearly to the summits of the hills; thus all through the summer the surface of the island is covered with evergreen foliage. The olive requires the earth in which it grows to be ploughed or dug not less than three times a year; but the proprietors in Mytilene generally grudge this necessary labour. The first ploughing ought to be in January the last in May. Manure produced by the sheep, goats, and other cattle on the hills, is ploughed in to nourish the soil. This manure is very light and friable, and no straw is mixed with it. The allowance is a mule-load to a full-grown tree, and half a mule-load to a smaller tree. The price of a day's ploughing is ten piastres (about 1s. 8d.), including the hire of a yoke of oxen. A day's digging costs five piastres.

The tree requires to be pruned from time to time, in order that the air may circulate freely through its branches.

The constant breezes of Mytilene, and the abundant supply of fresh water, are two causes which have probably much aided the cultivation of the olive here. The roots of the olive-trees absorb most of the riches of the soil, leaving little nourishment for other plants. Sometimes olive-trees remain barren for two or three years; and this barrenness may extend over a whole district. This is very much the case in Mytilene at this time.

The quantity and quality of the oil depend on a