367
THE LIBRARY
OF
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
LOS ANGELES
EUROPEAN
OLIVE-TREE.
AN ESSAY
ON
THE HISTORY AND CULTIVATION
OF THE
EUROPEAN OLIVE-TREE.
Quis divum aut hominum tarn clari rouneris auctor.
PASSERATU OLIVA.
PARIS:
PRINTED BY L. T. CELLOT.
1820.
8
o ADVERTISEMENT
4
TO THE FIRST EDITION.
O
co THE following article was written for
f the North American Sylva, at the re-
^ quest of Mr. MJCHAUX , for whom I seize
^with pleasure an occasion of expressing
my esteem.
U I have consulted the most judicious
r? ancient and modern works, Columella,
Lj Pliny , the Memoirs of the Academy of
^Marseilles, elc., and have myself ob-
c\ served the Olive in Provence.
AUGUSTUS L. HILLHOUSE ,
Citizen of the United States.
Paris, August, 1818.
;892il
ADVERTISEMENT
TO THE SECOND EDITION.
I am induced to reprint this Essay by
the hope of its practical utility a hope
encouraged by learned Naturalists who
have visited the United States.
I prefer leaving its faults to the reader's
good nature, to correcting them.
A. L. H.
Paris, October, 1820.
Olive Tree .
{>,'<'<! Euivpcra
ESSAY
EUROPEAN OLIVE-TREE
SINCE the introduction of the Vine, the Olive
seems principally wanting to complete the
vegetable riches of the United States ; and ,
probably, it might be cultivated with success
on some portion of their soil.
The genus of the Olives, of which one
species only is found in North America , is
more diversified in the eastern hemisphere :
fourteen species are mentioned by botanical
writers , which are natives of the remote ex-
tremities of the Old World. The Oka fra-
grans grows in China and Japan : its flowers
are impregnated with the sweetest odour,
and are employed by the Chinese to perfume
their tea.
1 OLEA EUROP^A. Foliis lanceolalis, integerrimis ;
racemis paniculatis.
DiANDRIA MONOGYNIA , Lin. JASMINE/E , Jus.
But none of these species forms an object
of great importance in the rural economy of
the regions to which they are indigenous,
nor does their introduction promise very
beneficial fruits to the agriculture of other
countries. It is far otherwise with the Euro-
pean Olive. This ornament of the vegetable
kingdom , which is called by Columella the
first among trees , has constituted , from the
remotest antiquity, the pride of some of the
most celebrated regions of the globe ; and ,
besides the commercial value of its products,
it is invested, both by sacred and profane his-
tory, with a thousand interesting associations,
It is difficult, or rather impossible, to as-
sign with precision the native climate of the
Olive : the most probable opinion is that it
came originally from Asia Minor, and that it
was also indigenous to Egypt, or introduced
into that country at an early period of its
settlement. It was transplanted to Greece by
the Egyptian colonies ; the Phenicians pro-
bably carried it to Carthage, and the Cartha-
ginians to Spain. Before its introduction into
Spain , the Phenicians maintained a lucrative
trade with the Spaniards in oil, which they
(3)
exchanged for bars of gold. Pliny informs us
that this culture was unknown in Spain and
Italy in the reign of Tarquinius Priscus, but
that when once introduced it was rapidly dif-
fused. The Olive was planted in France by
the Phocean colony which founded Mar-
seilles , six hundred years before Christ.
The Athenians held the Olive in such es-
teem, that they ascribed its production to
their tutelary deity. This beneficent miracle,
which is retraced in the monuments of
Athens, is differently represented by ancient
authors ; it is thus agreeably related by Apol-
lodorus Alheniensis : In the reign of Cecrops
leave was first given to the Gods to assume
the patronage of cities , in which they might
appropriate to themselves peculiar honours.
Upon which Neptune came into Attica, and,
standing in the middle of the citadel , smote
the earth with his trident, and caused the sea
to flow at his feet. After him appeared Mi-
nerva , who, calling Cecrops to be a witness
of what she was about to perform , caused an
Olive-Tree to spring from the ground. A
contention hence arose betw r een these divi-
nities, to appease which Jupiter appointed
( 4)
the twelve Gods to be judges of the dispute ,
by whom, on the testimony of Cecrops, it
was decided in favour of Minerva. The God-
dess, thus become tutelar divinity of the city,
called it after her own name , and Neptune,
irritated by his defeat , inundated all Attica
to revenge the affront.
The Olive has flourished chiefly on the
shores of the Mediterranean Sea, between
the thirty-sixth and the forty-fourth degrees
of latitude. It still abounds in Greece : in the
northern provinces it requires to be placed
on hill-sides exposed to the south, that it may
be warmed by the reflected heat; but in At-
tica the climate, as well as the soil and face
of the country, is peculiarly favourable to its
growth. Near the foot of the mountains, the
Olives form vast curtains of a pale green,
which is agreeably contrasted with the deeper
verdure of the meadows beneath, and with
the dusky grey of the rocks above. 1 The beau-
tiful plain of Athens, as seen towards the
north-west from Mount Hymeltus, appears
entirely covered with them. 3 The wild Olive,
1 See Beaujour's Commerce of Greece.
3 See Oliyier's Travels.
(5)
grows upon the mountains with the Pine and
the Oak , and the cultivated varieties are
reared about the villages with the Fig-Tree
and the Pomegranate-Tree. 1
The produce of the soil is said to be one
third greater when planted with Olives, than
under any other species of culture ; and oil is
the principal article of commerce which af-
fords the Athenians the enjoyments of life
and the means of paying their taxes.
But the industry of the Greeks languishes
beneath a despotism restricted to no forms,
and tempered by no public opinion, whose
extemporaneous oppression it is impossible,
by the most ingenious calculations, to elude.
In ancient Athens a premium was given for
the multiplication of the Olive, and severe
penalties were inflicted upon proprietors
who destroyed it on their own estates. The
Turks, on the contrary, subject it to a re-
turn of one tenth, to which is added a tax
of a para for each tree, imposed by Sultan
Selim III. To avoid the exactions to which he
is a prey, the unhappy Athenian peasant fre-
1 See Beaujour's Commerce of Greece.
(6)
qnently prefers cutting down his Olives, or
selling them at a price unequal to the value
of their annual produce.
The wild Olive is common on the islands
of the Propontis and on the declivities slop-
ing to the sea upon the Asiatic side of the
Hellespont.
Perhaps one of the finest countries of the
world is the Persian provinces of Ghilan
and Mazenderan, which lie north of the Cas-
pian Mountains, between the thirty-seventh
and the thirty-eighth degrees of latitude. The
soil is fertile and watered by innumerable
streams that gush from the bosom of those
mountains : the surface is even, and, from
the depression of the level , and from the
proximity of the Caspian Sea, the climate is
mild and equable. The Olive is found there
with the Sugar-cane , the Orange-Tree , and
other productions of warm climates, which
do not flourish in the more southern parts of
this dry and sterile kingdom.
In Syria the Olive grows spontaneously ;
but it is rare, and its cultivation is neglected.
The natural advantages of a country formed
to be the seat of the richest and most power-
(7)
ful empire of Asia, are lost in the absence of
an industrious and enlightened population.
The slothful and improvident habits of the
Turks themselves, and the paralysing in-
fluence of their government, arc particularly
unfavourable to a culture whose fruits are
tardy, and which therefore requires to be
encouraged by the security of property. The
Island of Candia produces great quantities of
oil , and Mytilene or Lesbos exports pickled
olives. Several other islands of the Archipe-
lago share in this commerce.
In Egypt a few stocks of the Olive are seen
in almost every village ; but it is not exten-
sively multiplied , nor regarded as one of the
resources of agriculture. Oil is made in seve-
ral of the Barbary States, and Desfontaines
found the wild Olive abundant on Mount
Atlas.
But the greatest variety of Olives, the most
judicious culture, and the most perfect me-
thod of extracting the oil and of preserving
the fruit, are found in Italy, France and Spain.
Bcetica, or that part of Spain which lies be-
tween the Guadal quiver and the sea, is men-
tioned by Columella as a country eminently
(8 )
adapted to the Olive; and with a more intel-
ligent husbandry it might again become, as it
was in the age of Cicero, the admiration of
Europe.
France is divided by agricultural writers
into zones, each of which is named after one
of its important vegetable productions, and
bounded towards the north by the line at
which this production ceases to flourish. The
Abbe Rozier makes four of these zones, suc-
ceeding each other from south to north in the
following order : that of the Orange-Tree,
which ceases at Ouliolles, near Toulon ; that
of the Olive , which extends to Carcassonne ,
and of which Nismes may be taken as the ex-
treme boundary; that of the Vine , and that
of the Apple-Tree. In travelling from Tou-
louse to the shore of the Mediterranean,
along the canal of Languedoc, I first observed
the Olive at a little distance from Carcas-
sonne ; but it appeared to have ventured
thither only upon trial, and from the size of
the trees I judged them to be a recent settle-
ment. About Beziers, Montpellier, Aix, etc.,
the hills in every direction are covered with
Olives.
(9)
Thus we sec that this inestimable produc-
tion has been widely diffused by the bounti-
ful hand of Nature.
The beauty of the Olive is far from corres-
ponding to its intrinsic value. It varies in size
according to the soil and climate in which it
grows; and in France the temperature is not
warm enough for its perfect developement.
Pliny says that in Spain it was one of the
largest trees : Non alia major in Bcetica
arbor. On Mount Atlas, Dcsfontaincs saw
Wild Olives from forty-five to sixty feet in
height ; and Beaujour compares the Olives of
the plains of Marathon to the finest Walnuts,
for stature and expansion. Lofty Olives are
still seen in the Island of Corfu , shading the
spot where they once enriched the gardens
of Alcinous.
In the olive -yards of France these trees
are generally from eighteen to twenty feet
in height, and from six inches to two feet in
diameter. About Aix, Montpcllicr, etc., they
are kept low, partly by the disasters to which
they are exposed from cold, and partly by
the care of the cultivator, to facilitate the
gathering of the fruit. They ramify at a small
height, and form a compact and rounded
summit. The open, coriaceous foliage is of a
pale, impoverished verdure, and the general
appearance of the tree is not unlike that of a
common Willow which has been lopped, and
which has acquired a new summit of three
or four years' growth.
Indeed the Olive possesses neither the ma-
jesty of forest- trees, nor the gracefulness of
shrubbery. It clothes the hills without adorn-
ing them, and, considered as an accident of
the landscape, it does not charge the picture
sufficiently to contribute greatly to its beauty.
The rich culture for which the southern pro-
vinces of France are celebrated, is less con-
ducive to rural beauty than some of the
humbler species of husbandry. The richest
country is not always the most lovely : a
country -of mines, for example, is usually un-
gracious to the eye ; and the Olive is called by
an Italian writer, a mine upon the surface of
the earth.
This tree is remarkable for its longevity :
the ancients limited its existence to two hun-
dred years ; but modern authors assert that,
in climates suited to its constitution, it sur-
( II )
vives ils fifth century. 1 Relations are made of
the bulk of some of these patriarchal trees ,
too surprising to be repeated unless they
were perfectly authenticated ; but in France
there are Olives which two men can hardly
compass in their arms.
The main limbs of the Olive are numer-
ously divided ; the branches are opposite ,
and the pairs are alternately placed upon
conjugate axes of the limb. The foliage is
evergreen , but a part of it turns yellow and
falls in the summer, and in three years it is
completely renewed. In the spring or early
autumn, the seasons when vegetation is in its
greatest activity, the young leaves come out
immediately above the cicatrice of the former
petioles, and are distinguished by their sup-
pleness and by the freshness of their tint.
The colour of the leaves varies in different
varieties of the Olive, but they are generally
smooth and of a light green above, whitish
and somewhat downy with a prominent rib
beneath. On most of the cultivated varieties
1 The monks of Jerusalem affirm that the Olives of the
garden of Gethsenaane are the same which witnessed the
agony of Christ.
they arc from fifteen to twenty-four lines
long , and from six to twelve lines broad ,
lanceolate, entire, nearly sessile, opposite
and alternate 1 in the manner of the branches.
The Olive is slow in blooming , as well avS
in every function of vegetable life. The buds
begin to appear about the middle of April ,
and the bloom is not full before the end of
May or the beginning of June. The flowers
are small, white, slightly odoriferous, and
disposed in axillary racemes or clusters. A
peduncle about as long as the leaf issues from
its base , upon which the flowers are sup-
ported by secondary pedicles , like those of
the common Currant. Sometimes the clusters
are almost as numerous as the leaves, and
garnish the tree with wanton luxuriance; at
others, they are thinly scattered over the
branches, or seen only at their extremity. It
is essential to remark that they are borne by
the shoots of the preceding year. Each flower
is complete in itself, consisting of a calyx, a
monopetalous corolla divided into four lobes,
and of the organs of reproduction , namely,
two stamina and one pistil.
1 Folia decussala is the botanical phrase.
A week after the expanding of the flower,
the corolla fades and falls. If the calyx
remains behind, a favourable presage is
formed of the fruitfulness of the season ;
but the hopes of the husbandman are lia-
ble to be blasted at this period by the
slightest intemperateness of the elements,
which causes the germ to fall with the
flower. .Warm weather, accompanied by-
gentle breezes, that agitate the tree and
facilitate the fecundation , is the most pro-
pitious to his vows.
The fruit of the Olive is called by bo-
tanists a drupe : it is composed of pulpy
matter enveloping a stone, or ligneous shell
containing a kernel. The olive is ovate ,
pointed at the extremity , from six to ten
lines in diameter in one direction, and
from ten to fifteen lines in the other : on
the wild tree it hardly exceeds the size of
the red currant. The skin is smooth , and ,
when ripe, of a violet colour; but in cer-
tain varieties it is yellowish or red. The
pulp is greenish, and the stone is oblong,
pointed, and divided into two cells, one
of which is usually void. 1 The oil of the olive
is furnished by the pulp, which is a charac-
teristic almost peculiar to this fruit : in other
oleaginous vegetables it is extracted from the
seed. The young olive sets in June , increases
in size and remains green through the sum-
mer, begins to change colour early in Octo-
ber, and is ripe at the end of November or
in the beginning of December. On the wild
Olive five or six drupes are ripened upon
each peduncle j but on the cultivated tree a
great part of the flowers are abortive , and
the green fruit is cast at every stage of its
growth ; so that rarely more than one or two
germs upon a cluster arrive at maturity.
It has been observed from early antiquity
that the produce of the Olive is alternate ; and
in France it is proverbially said to labour one
year for itself, and one year for its owner.
The cause of this phenomenon will be men-
tioned hereafter. It is asserted that the wild
Olives are sometimes barren; but these must
be trees that have sprung from stones drop-
1 Semen unum soepe abortivum. DE JL'SSIEU.
ped upon arid rocks, in whose crevices the
roots barely find nourishment enough to sus-
tain the abject existence of the plant.
On ihe branches of the Olive , and on the
trunk of the young tree, the bark is smooth
and of an ashy hue. When the epidermis is
removed, the cellular integument appears of
a light green. On old trees the bark upon the
trunk and upon the base of the principal
limbs is brown, rough and deeply furrowed.
In the spring and autumn , when the sap is
in motion, the bark is easily detached from
the body of the tree.
The \vood is heavy, compact, fine-grained
and brilliant. The alburnum is white and
soft, and the perfect wood is hard, brittle,
and of a reddish tinct, with the pith nearly
effaced, as in the Box. It is employed by
cabinet-makers to inlay the finer species of
wood which are contrasted with it in colour,
and to form light, ornamental articles, such
as dressing-cases, tobacco-boxes, etc. The
wood of the roots, which is more agreeably
marbled , is preferred. The Olive was classed
by the ancients among the hard and durable
species of wood, such as the Ebony, the
Cedar, the Box and the Lotus. On account of
its hardness it was used for the hinges of
doors; and before metal became common in
statuary, it was selected by the Greeks for
the images of their Gods. Three statues of
Minerva were preserved in the citadel of
Athens , which exemplified the progress of
this exquisite art : the first, made of olive
wood, and of rude workmanship, was said
to have fallen from heaven ; the second , of
bronze , was consecrated after the victory of
Marathon; the third, of gold and ivory, was
one of the miracles of the age of Pericles. 1
From its resinous and oleaginous nature,
the olive wood is eminently combustible, and
burns as well before as after it is dried. The
value of its fruit renders this property unim-
portant ; but after the severe winter of 1700,,
which proved fatal to the Olives throughout
Languedoc and Provence, the country was
warmed for a considerable time with this
precious wood.
The Olive accommodates itself to almost
every variety of soil ; but it shuns a redun-
' See Barthelemy.
( i?)
dancy of moisture, and prefers loose, calca-
rious, fertile lands mingled with stones, such
as the territory of Attica and of the south of
France. The quality of its fruit is essentially
affected by that of the soil : it succeeds in
good loams which arc capable of bearing
corn , but on fat lands it yields oil of an in-
ferior flavour, and becomes laden with a bar-
ren exuberance of leaves and branches. The
temperature of the climate is a consideration
of more importance than the nature of the
soil, as all the varieties of the Olive dread
the extremes both of heat and cold. Neither
do they delight in very low, nor in very ele-
vated situations , but rather in gentle declivi-
ties, with an exposure adapted to the climate,
where the fresh breezes , playing among
the branches, may contribute to the health
of the tree, and to the fineness of the fruit.
Notwithstanding the delicacy of its com-
plexion, the Olive is extremely tenacious of
life. When the trunk has perished by frost or
by fire, it sprouts anew ; and we are assured
that if a bit of the bark, with a thin layer of
wood , is buried in the earth , it becomes a
perfect plant.
In this respect the Olive is the polypus of
vegetables. It is multiplied by all the modes
that are in use for the propagation of trees :
by sowing the seed, by layers, by slips, by
cuttings of the root , and by sprouts sepa-
rated from the trunk or from the roots of
the parent stock. The most obvious method ,
that of forming nurseries from the seed , is
generally censured in books , and rejected in
practice ; the difficulty of obtaining the young
plants , and the length of time which must
elapse before they begin to reward the la-
bour of the husbandman, have discouraged
its adoption. But if these objections could be
obviated, it is doubtless the most eligible
practice : as the plants thus reared begin a
new life , they are more vigorous and of
longer duration than off-setts from an old
tree; they form also a perpendicular root,
which penetrates deeply, and secures them
from the danger of suffering by drought.
In most of the experiments that have been
made of this method, the fruit, has been sown
entire ; and this is even enjoined , as a neces-
sary precaution. But, however it may seem
to be indicated by Nature, such is not her
( '9)
own process. The stones which produce the
wild Olives are deposited by animals that
digest the pulp, or by birds that carry away
the fruit in their beaks, devour the pulp, and
leave the stones to take their chance with the
elements. The principles of vegetable physio-
logy, also, support the conclusions derived
from these observations : ' the pulp not only
invites the depredations of animals such as
field-mice, pies, etc. ; but this oily envelope,
by preserving the shell from moisture, pre-
vents its decaying in season for the germina-
tion of the kernel , which , in the meantime,
becomes rancid and loses its fecundity.
Ripe fruit of the finest varieties is selected,
(that of the Gros Ribies is the best;, and the
stones, after being separated from the pulp,
are cleansed in an alkaline solution. A shel-
tered situation is chosen , where the earth is.
thoroughly loosened to the depth of three
feet , and enriched with the warmest ma-
nures. In the month of March the stones are
sown, at a small distance apart, in trenches
1 See De Saussure's Chemical Researches on Vegeta-
tion.
2.
(20)
t\vo or three inches deep , and covered with
earth. The soil should be kept free from
herbage, and occasionally watered during
the summer. The young plants appear in
October, and continue to vegetate through
the winter. By the following spring, the most
thriving among them will have attained the
height of thirty inches. The feebler stocks
should now be eradicated. With proper at-
tention, and in a favourable soil, the remain-
der will be four or five feet high, and six or
seven lines in diameter, in the course of the
third spring, with a perpendicular root of
thirty inches. This is the season for trans-
planting them. Great care should be bes-
towed upon the preparation of the ground ,
and the young plants should be placed three
feet apart. After two years they will be suffi-
ciently advanced to be grafted ; and at the
end of five years tliey may be transplanted
to the olive-yard.
To accelerate the germination , the stones
maybe kept in fine mould during the summer
and autumn, and sown in the beginning of
January. They soon begin to vegetate , and
before the following winter the young stocks
fO
acquire strength enough to support its ri-
gours, while the tender plant that comes up
in October, is in danger of suffering by the
lightest hoar-frost. Perhaps some advantage
would be found in reducing the thickness of
the shell before it is committed to the ground,
in order to expose the germ more speedily
to the influence of those agents which arc
necessary to its expansion.
Every mode of grafting is successfully
practised on the Olive : the most common ,
and the most proper for young stocks , is
that of inoculation. The operation should be
performed in May, while the juices are in
active circulation. Different opinions prevail
respecting the insertion of the graft above
or below the surface of the ground : grafting
below the surface is attended with this ad-
vantage, that, when the trunk is destr6yed ,
a generous progeny springs from its base.
A few stocks should be left to form new
varieties. Fruit trees and flowers lose in re-
production, the properties which they had
acquired by culture, and tend anew to the
state of nature; but, in a great number of
plants reared from the seed, a few are found
that equal or excel the parent. Florists con-
sider themselves as fortunate if, among a
thousand Hyacinths or Tulips, they obtain
three or four deserving of notice.
The young Olives begin to yield fruit the
tenth or twelfth year, and are fully produc-
tive about the twenty-fifth or thirtieth : thus
Hesiod's observation, that no man gathers
fruit from an Olive of his own planting ,
must be admitted with the abatements of
poetry.
A second method of forming a nursery,
which has been successfully adopted near
Toulon, is by transplanting the young wild
Olives.
The ancients relied principally upon pro-
pagation by slips, 1 and this easy and expe-
ditious mode is still generally followed in
Spain. A smooth, thriving sprout or branch,
one or two inches in diameter, is cut into
pieces twelve or fifteen inches long, which
are carefully set, without wounding the bark,
in ground prepared as for the seed. They are
placed at the~ distance of three feet, and at
1 See Geopon. , lib. ix , cap. v.
(23)
such a depth that three inches only appear
above the surface. To encourage the forma-
tion of roots , the larger end , which is com-
mitted to the earth , should be smeared with
a composition of mould and animal manure,
and the end which is exposed to the air should
be protected by a covering of clay. Cuttings
of the roots, also, buried in an inclined po-
sition in trenches four inches deep, will
sprout in the course of the year; a few
months later the feebler stocks are plucked
up , and the more vigorous ones are left at
the distance of three feet. Another easy re-
source is found in the shoots that spring up
round the base of an old Olive, or from
roots laid bare and wounded for this pur-
pose. 1
It is necessary, in every case , to ascertain
the point at which the original stock was
grafted. The offspring is invariably identical
in its nature with that part of the parent
tree from which it was separated; it requires
grafting, therefore , if it was detached from
1 Prizes have been repeatedly oflered by the Agricultu-
ral Society of Paris , for the best essays on the formation
of olive-nurseries.
(24)
a point below the insertion of the graft , or
from a tree which had not submitted to this
process.
AH these operations are performed at the
close of winter or the opening of spring.
The length of time which the young plants
should remain in the nursery, varies with
their size and strength ; but it rarely exceeds
four or five years. During this period the
ground should be kept mellow and clean ,
and occasionally watered in the summer, if
the season is dry. But this indulgence should
not be prodigally bestowed : vegetable as
well as animal and moral life , is susceptible
of habitude. For this reason it is also an im-
portant precept in the formation of nurse-
v ries, to select a soil analogous to that in
which the trees are to reside. If the young
plant is lavishly supplied with nutritious
juices, its pores become distended, its fibres
gross, and its vegetation luxuriant. Super-
fluous enjoyments easily become necessaries
of life ; hence , when it is removed to a dif-
ferent scene , and condemned to struggle for
existence in an ungrateful soil, it loses heart
and perishes where it might have been long-
lived and fruitful, if its temperament had
been hardened by early privation. Thus it
fares , if I may be pardoned the reflection ,
with the mind of an ingenuous youth, which,
under better influences , might have been
formed to virtue. If the lesson of disinterest-
edness had been early inculcated, it might
have been indelibly learned; he might have
been lead to sacrifice fame to humanity, as
unhesitatingly as he sacrifices pleasure to
fame. But, instead of being taught to consult
only the unchanging principles of rectitude ,
and to be satisfied with the pleasures of be-
nevolence, he is sedulously inspired with the
love of glory ; his ambition is fomented till
this ungenerous passion assumes the ascend-
ant in his breast , and becomes the arbiter of
his existence.
When the nurselings are arrived at a
proper age, the next step is to transplant
them to the oliv e-yard. The task of preparing
the ground for their reception should be
begun immediately after the harvest. Holes
or trenches, at least three feet wide, arc
dug, and left mouldering till the close of
winter, which is the season for transplanting
(26)
the Olive. The stock and principal branches
are lopped, and the wounds are covered
with clay ; but as much of the roots as pos-
sible should be preserved, with the earth
adhering to them. When the trees are car-
ried to a distance , which may be done with
the precautions that are used for other fruit
trees, they should be set during several hours
in water, before they are replaced in the
ground. Mellow, fertile mould should be
spread upon the bottom of the holes, and
thrown first upon the roots , among which
the earth should be lightly forced, though it
is not useful to render it compact, nor to
heap it about the trunk. A copious watering
follows, and is repeated in the course of the
season , as the weather and the health of the
plant may require.
The Olive, arrived at an advanced age,
may be transplanted in the same manner as
the young tree. In general, whatever vege-
table is to support this trial, the most im-
portant precept is that the earth be widely
broken up and minutely subdivided , so that
the roots may be placed in their natural po-
sition, and that their first efforts to extend
themselves may not be embarrassed by com-
pact masses, which they penetrate with dif-
ficulty, and from which they derive a scanty
subsistence.
The Olives should be planted at such a dis-
tance that they may not interfere with each
other, and that every portion of the soil may
contribute to their nourishment. In meager
lands from which no other produce is exact-
ed, eighteen or twenty feet are enough; but
in vineyards or corn -lands they may be
thirty-five or forty feet apart. Cato assigns
twenty-five or thirty feet, which, as a mean
term, is sufficiently exact. In warmer cli-
mates, certain varieties attain such dimen-
sions as to require a space of sixty or seventy
feet.
Our olive -yard being thus formed, our
next enquiry is concerning the culture ne-
cessary to obtain the most certain and the
most abundant produce. Virgil, after des-
cribing the assiduous attention exacted by
the Vine , leaves the Olive almost to Na-
ture :
Contra non ulla est Olels cultura : neque illae
Procurvam expectant Jalcem, rastrosque tenaces,
(,8)
Cum semelhceserunt arvis, aurasque tulerunt.
Ipsa satis tellus , cum dente recluditur unco ,
Sujficit humorem
VIR. Geor. II.
Not so the Olives : when their roots have found
The needful moisture from the nurturing ground,
And , firmly seated, can securely bear
The summit tempted by the sportive air,
No more the harrow nor the knife they ask
The plough completes , alone, the easy task.
Columella, on the contrary, advises the
husbandman to bear in mind a judicious pro-
verb : Eum, qui aret olivetum, rogare f ruc-
tum ; qui stercoret, exorare; qui ccedat, co-
gere. It is true the Olive does not become
barren when totally abandoned; but, like
other vegetables, it repays the neglect of the
husbandman with a diminished produce, and
his care with larger and more abundant
fruit.
In Provence it is customary to turn the
soil in the spring and in the fall. Besides the
tillage of the plough , the ground should be
carefully dressed with the spade about the
foot of each tree. More labour is required
by some soils than by others ; a compact.
argillacious loam must be more frequently
turned than a light, calcarious mould.
The olive-yard should be manured at least
once in three or four years; but it would be
more beneficial to sustain its strength by
moderate annual supplies. Most species of
manure , while they increase the produce of
the Olive, impair the quality of its fruit;
the finest oil is made from wild trees grow-
ing in calcarious lands of moderate fertility.
Vegetable substances are preferable to ani-
mal manures for fruit trees in general, and
especially for the Olive and the Vine. When
animal manure is employed, it should be
tempered with marl, sea-weed, leaves, etc.,
and applied only when the whole is reduced
to mould. To soils deficient in this ingre-
dient, calcarious matter is of the utmost
utility, and great benefit is said to be found
in Spain from sea-water poured upon the
roots of the Olive. 1 But the finest manure is
the offals of the fruit that has been pressed ,
1 For other particulars of the practice in Spain, see the
Seminario de la Cultura a los Parrocos , by Don Anto-
nio Melon , an enlightened Spanish ecclesiastic.
(3o)
and the washings of the utensils and the oii-
vessels.
The manure is spread in ihe fall , in the
winter , or before the tillage in the spring.
Its effects are most sensible when it is ap-
plied at the beginning of winter, as during
this season, its virtues are imbibed by the
soil, and communicated to every fibre of the
roots. Through the spring and summer, on
the contrary, it sometimes remains nearly
inert beneath the surface. But in climates
where the Olive is liable to injury from cold,
the most serious accidents are to be feared
from keeping its roots too warm in the win-
ter ; its vegetation being in this manner
quickened, so that the sap is set in motion
by every genial sun that softens the bosom
of Nature , it is exposed to the most immi-
nent danger from the returning frost. The
fatal effects of cold are frequently less attri-
butable to its intensity than to its sudden-
ness : a plant which has become relaxed by
the tepid breath of a deceitful Zephyr, is sur-
prised and killed by the frozen blast of the
north wind. To maintain an even temper-
ature at the roots during the winter, earth
(3,)
should be heaped about the base of the trees,
and the manure should be spread early
enough in the fall ta assist them in ripening
their fruit and preparing the bloom of the
succeeding year, or late enough in the spring
to avoid the accidents of frost. The Greeks
do not make use of manure, except when
chance conducts a flock of sheep to the foot
of an Olive , which immediately becomes
conspicuous by a richer vegetation.
When substances proper for manure can-
not be obtained in the requisite abundance,
the deficiency may be supplied by sowing
grasses or cereal plants, and ploughing in
the green herb. The intelligent cultivator is
avsare .that he thus not only renders back
what was extracted from the earth, but, as
vegetables imbibe nourishment from the at-
mosphere, and as their roots arrest nutri-
tious particles which would have escaped by
filtration or evaporation, that he enriches the
soil by an accession of new matter.
Vegetable chemistry has probably impor-
tant secrets to reveal in this part of practical
agriculture. As a soil may be exhausted by the
continued growth of the same plants while it
C 32 )
is still capable of bearing those of another
genus, we should examine the nature of the
particles consumed by different vegetables ,
in order to repair the waste by analogous
supplies. 1
The most glaring imperfection in the agri-
culture of those parts of France which I have
visited, is the deficiency of manure. The
number of cattle on the soil of the kingdom
is unequal to its wants; and the modes of
supplying the deficiency of animal manure
are not generally understood. Where the
species of husbandry admits of rotation , a
field is sometimes exhausted by the repetition
of the same crop , and left to recruit itself
by a period of absolute repose ; and in Lan-
guedoc the vineyards are often prematurely
destroyed , that the soil may recover heart
by lying fallow, or by the substitution of
some other culture.
In some parts of France agriculture has
made approaches to perfection ; but the zeal
of improvement is not widely diffused. Agri-
cultural societies exist in almost every de-
f See Davy's Elements of Agricultural Chemistry.
(33)
partment, whose labours are seconded by
the ardour of enlightened individuals; but
great meliorations must spring from a gene-
ral spirit of emulation, which it is not easy
to awaken. The French, notwithstanding the
rapidity of their conceptions, are a passive
people , tenacious of routine. The number of
liberally educated men who unite a taste for
rural life with a fortune sufficient for expe-
rimental farming , is comparatively small.
The gentry of France rush into the capital to
escape from ennui, as, in the noble days of
chivalry, the defenceless inhabitants of the
champaign fled into the castles, at the ap-
proach of some plundering knight or lawless
baron. The inspired twilight of their native
groves is forsaken for the luxurious shades of
the royal gardens, and the simple indepen-
dance of rural life , for the gilded servitude
of the court. Existence has a charm only in
Paris ; those who cannot reside in the metro-
polis, hurry into the provincial capitals to
attend the levee of the prefect, and prefer
bending in the saloon of this humble repre-
sentative of royalty, to dispensing instruc-
tion and happiness among their dependants
3
(34)
at home. What place should a man solicit ,
before his. country invites his services, who
can breathe an untainted air upon his own
estate? Nor have the French, in appreciat-
ing the dignity of agriculture, modelled their
taste upon that of the ancients, as scrupul-
ously as in their literature : under the former
monarchy, rural employments were consi-
dered as degrading to a gentleman. 1
1 Respect for the useful arts has long been talcing place
of admiration for the frivolous accomplishments of the
ancient court, and it will finally dissolve the charm of
military glory. I am aware, also, that the present court is
not brilliant, but the cause is less simple and profound
than a thorough renovation of the public character.
I speak on this subject, however, without preteulion*
to authority, and am farther than any man from meaning
to affront the gallant and amiable French. Who can for-
bear admiring the constancy with which they have adhered
to the legitimate principles of the revolution, through an
anarchy the most terrible, and a despotism at once the
most splendid and the most liberal of modern ages !
France was never more truly great than in her volun-
tary humiliation; her prospects were never brighter than
in the midst of her adversity. Though vestiges of arbitrary
power in every branch of administration remind her that
she has always had a government of men and not of
laws, public opinion is advancing with inevitable steps;
( 35 )
Though these reflections were doubtless
more applicable before the revolution, and
even before the restoration of the throne,
they are still, to a certain degree, just. But
let me not lightly reproach an august nation
with faults to which a corrective has been
applied , radical in its effects , though neces-
sarily slow in its operation. They will disap-
pear as its institutions become more popu-
lar, so that public consideration shall be ob-
tained by public services , and not by the fa-
vour of the great. Experience has not been
thrown away upon the French people ; they
are forming a national character, in whose
splendour, the glory by which they and Eu-
rope have been dazzled, will be swallowed
up and lost. Their liberty was planted amid
storms that threatened the social world with
dissolution; it has resisted the hostile in-
fluence of every element, and it will rise
and spread itself, ample and strong, till it
aud the misguided sovereign who should seek to arrest
its progress, would be treated, not like Charles I and
Louis XVI , but like James II.
One of the greatest benefits of the revolution is to have
obviated the necessity of future violence.
3.
(36)
overshadows this happy country, and till its
roots pierce the soil of distant lands. England
herself, if she Joes not rise up betimes, and
assert the reforms that have become vitally
necessary to her constitution , may take les-
sons from her rival widely different from the
contrasts with which she has been wont to
feed her pride.
The remaining part of the cultivation of
the Olive is pruning. Bernard informs us that
this practice was but lately introduced into
Provence , and that it is not universally
adopted, nor reduced to correct principles
and uniform rules. In some places a limb is
lopped away every year to renew the wood ;
but this is an injudicious mode , as the suck-
ers to which it gives birth engross the sap,
to the prejudice of the productive branches.
Pruning consists in cleansing a tree from
dead wood and other impurities, which may
be done at all seasons and by the simplest
hand; and in retrenching its superfluous
growth, which is a delicate operation, and
requires judgment and experience. Its object
is to determine the form of the tree, to open
it to the light and air, and to regulate its pro-
C 3 7 )
duce. This is done by diminishing the num-
ber of branches, and by extirpating such as
are too feeble or too luxuriant. The pruning
of the Olive is subject to the general prin-
ciples of the art , modified by the peculiar
nature of the tree. A part of its branches
should be curtailed every year, and the num-
ber of bearing shoots determined, so that
it may not be exhausted by its fruit. After
twelve or fifteen years, one or two of the
principal limbs may be lopped ; and at in-
tervals , which must depend upon the condi-
tion of each tree , the whole summit may be
retrenched. The most favourable season for
pruning the Olive is in March.
Such is, summarily, the husbandry of
Provence, which, though susceptible per-
haps of improvement, is the most perfect
in Europe.
More than thirty varieties of the Olive ' are
1 The most exact aqd extensive catalogue is found in
the New Duhamel. The following are some of the most
esteemed varieties :
i . The Olivier pleiireur , Olea craniomorpha , four-
teenth variety, is one of the largest and finest trees. Its
branches are redundantly numerous, and pendant like
289211
( 38 )
known in France , which arc distinguished
by their size, by their temperament as to soil
and climate, and by the qualities of their
those of the Weeping Willow. Its fruit is good for the
table , and yields a pure and abundant oil. It should be
placed in vallies rather than on elevated grounds, as it
has more to apprehend from drought than from cold :
there are individuals of this variety in Languedoc that
have three times survived the general destruction of the
Olives by frost.
2. The Olivier a fruit arrondi, Olea sphcerica,
twenty-sixth variety, is also among the least sensible to
cold. It requires moisture, a good soil, and abundant ma-
nure. Its oil is of a superior quality.
3. The Olivier de Lucque, Olea minor Lucensis ,
ninth variety, is hardy, and yields a fruit proper for pre-
serving.
4.. -5. The Aglandaou, Olivier it petit fruit rond,
Olea fntctu minore et rolundiore, third variety, and the
Olivier de Salon, Olea media fructu subrotundo, nine-
teenth variety, are good pr oil, and prefer dry and ele-
vated grounds.
6. The Olivier amygdalin, Olea amygdalina, twenty-
fifth variety, is much esteemed about Montpellier for its
fine and abundant oil. ,
7. The Pickoline, Olea oblonga, eleventh variety,
yields the most celebrated pickled olives. This variety is
not delicate in the choice of soil and climate.
(3 9 )
fruit. Some of these varieties, like those of
the Vine , owe their characteristic properties
to the scene in which they are reared.
The principal product of the Olive is oil,
but the pickled fruit is also a valuable article
of commerce. The simplest manner of pre-
serving the green olives, is by covering them
with a solution of common salt impregnated
with fennel, cumin, coriander-seed and rose-
wood. The most perfect method is that em-
ployed for the picholines of Provence, which
arc so called from Picciolini, by whom the
process was invented. They are gathered in
the beginning of October, 1 and the finest of
them are selected and throw T n into a weak
solution of soda or potash rendered caustic
with lime. In this solution they remain eight
or ten hours , till the pulp ceases to adhere
to the stone : they are then steeped , during
a week , in pure cold wfcer, daily renewed,
and are afterwards transferred to an aro-
matic brine. Such of them as are destined for
1 The Greeks leave them* on the trees till they are ripe ;
they are less agreeable to the taste at first, but after
a little use are found more rich and savoury than those of
Provence.
(4o)
the tables of the luxurious , are taken out
after a certain time , deprived of the stone ,
in place of which is substituted a caper or a
bit of trufflle, and closed up in bottles of the
finest oil. In this manner they are kept pa-
latable for two or three years. 1 The sweet
olive of the ancients, which was eaten with-
out preparation , is said to exist in the king-
dom of Naples.
The proper season for gathering the olives
for the press, is the eve of their maturity,
which varies in different climates and in dif-
ferent varieties of the Olive, but which is
easily distinguished by the colour of the fruit.
Two powerful considerations should engage
the cultivator not to delay the olive-harvest.
We have already observed that the produce
of this tree is alternate : the phenomenon , it
is true, is more uniformly witnessed in some
varieties than in otlters ; but it might be as-
sumed as a constant character, if it was not
proved by experienre to depend upon acci-
dental causes. It has been attributed to the
injury sustained by the trees in beating off
their fruit; but it is not observed in some
places where this practice prevails, and is
constant in others, where it is discarded. It
has |also been ascribed to injudicious prim-
ing ; but it is witnessed alike in olive-yards
pruned in the most opposite modes , and in
those that are unconscious of the knife. The
little fruit that is borne in the year of repose
is also of an inferior quality. Some other ex-
planation must therefore be sought, and a
satisfactory one is indicated by Pliny, in the
continuance of the fruit upon the branches
after its maturity : Hcerendo, enim , ultra
suum tempus , absumunt venientibus ali men-
turn. This cause, which is generally admitted
by vegetable physiologists in France , has
been developed by Olivier in a Memoir pre-
sented to the Economical Society of Paris.
Evergreen trees , and among them the Olive,
put forth the young shoots that are to bloom
the succeeding year, not in the spring, like
trees with deciduous leaves , but at the close
of summer ; and the buds are prepared dur-
ing the autumn and the beginning of winter.
If, then, the tree is overladen with fruit,
ihis second growth is prevented, and the
hopes of the following season are precluded;
or if the fruit is left too long upon the bran-
( 42 )
chcs, it diverts the juices which should be
employed in the preparation of the" flovver-
huds. At Aix, where the olive-harvest takes
place early in November, it is annual and
uniform; in Languedoc, Spain, Italy, etc.,
where it is delayed till December or January,
it is alternate. The quality of the oil, also,
depends upon gathering the fruit in the first
stage of its maturity. It should be carefully
plucked by hand, and the whole harvest com-
pleted , if possible, in a day. To concoct the
mucilage, and allow a part of the water to
evaporate, it is spread out, during two or
three days , in beds three inches deep.
The oil-mill retains nearly its primitive
form ; it consists of a basin raised two feet
from the ground , with an upright beam in
the middle, round which a massive mill-
stone is turned by water or by a beast of
burthen. The press is solidly constructed
of wood or of cast iron, and is moved by
a compound lever. The fruit, after being
crushed to a paste, is put into sacks of coarse
linen or of feather-grass, and submitted to
the press. The virgin oil, which is first dis-
charged, is the purest, and retains most sen-
(43)
sibly the taste of the fruit. It is received in
vessels half filled with water , from which it
is taken off and set apart in earthen jars. To
separate the vegetable fibres and other im-
purities, it is repeatedly decanted. When the
oil ceases to flow, the paste is taken out and
broken up. As the sacks are returned to the
press*, boiling water is shed over them , and
the pressure is redoubled, till every particle
of the oil and water is extracted. The mixture
is left in a vat, from which the oil is taken
off as it rises to the surface. This oil , though
less highly perfumed, is nearly as fine as the
first, and is usually mingled with it. The off-
als of the fruit are sometimes submitted to a
third process : in a basin into which a rill of
pure water is admitted, they are ground
anew; the skins and mucilaginous particles
floating on the surface are drawn off into
reservoirs , and the shells are preserved for
fuel. The utmost cleanliness is necessary in
making the oil; with the nicest economy in
the process, which is finished in a day, it
amounts in weight to nearly one third of the
fruit. The mean produce of a tree may be as-
sumed, in France at ten pounds, and in Italy
(44)
at fifteen; but single trees have been known,
in the productive season, to yield three hun-
dred pounds,
| The kernel of the olive affords an oil , the
mixture of which with that of the pulp is
said to injure its flavour and to hasten its
rancidity. A machine has, in consequence,
been invented for bruising the pulp without
crushing the stone : that the arguments for
its adoption have not prevailed over the es-
tablished usage, is no proof of their unsound-
ness; more convincing evidence is found in
the exquisite quality of the oil of Aix.
But there are abuses which experience has
demonstrated, without being able to correct
them : the fruit, after hanging too long upon
the trees, is kept fermenting in heaps, to in-
crease the quantity of oil , while the only
effect is to vitiate its quality.
Before the revolution, an apology was
found for these abuses in France , in the em-
barrassments to which industry was subject
from the oppressive exactions of the feudal
lords, and from the absurd interference of
the government. The tenants were compelled
to use the mills of the lord, which were
(45 )
never sufficiently numerous; and in Langue-
doc the period of opening them was fixed by
the police, as the time of collecting the gall-
nuts is appointed by the Turkish Agas in
Asia. The ancient practice is now gradually
yielding to a more perfect method ; yet how
slowly is prejudice subverted, even by in-
terest!
Besides the finest oil which is used upon
the table v immense quantities are employed
in the making of soap, and for other mecha-
nical purposes. A part of what is consumed
in this way at Marseilles is imported from
Greece and the Mediterranean Isles.
I have thus rapidly sketched an outline of
the history and cultivation of the far-famed
Olive. Among the gifts of Minerva which
adorn our rising empire , policy, and arts,
and arms, may we hope to see her favourite
tree enrich our soil? Some light may be
thrown upon this enquiry by an examination
of our climate, but it can be resolved only
by experience.
The eastern and western shores of the At-
(46)
lantic Ocean differ essentially in the pheno-
mena of climate. 1 In Europe the distribution
of heat through the seasons is more uniform,
and ihe medium of the year more elevated,
This equability is highly favourable to the
perfection of organized bodies; hence the
vegetables of America are meliorated in the
corresponding latitude in Europe , while
many productions of Europe cannot exist
under the same parallel in America. 2 We are
obliged, also, to migrate in the train of the
Seasons in quest of an agreeable tempera-
ture , which the more favoured Europeans
enjoy without changing their native signs.
We experience, in the same latitude, the
summer of Rome, the winter of Copenhagen,
and the mean temperature of the coast of
Britany. Nor is this difference attributable to
the state of cultivation, nor to any acciden-
tal cause with which \ve are acquainted : in
1 See De Humboldt's Memoir on the Distribution of
Heat.
2 Yet vegetation is more vigorous and more varied in
the United States than in the same latitude in Europe. See
De Humboldt's Vegetable Physiognomy, in his charming
work of the Pictures of Nature.
(4? )
the eternal forests that shroud our north-
western coast we find again the delicious cli-
mate of Europe, while Tarlary and China
repeat the phenomena of our own. For the
enjoyment of life and for the richness of
agriculture , we should have been more ad-
vantageously situated on the opposite side of
the Continent.
The Olive requires a climate whose mean
temperature is equal to fifty-seven degrees
seventeen minutes, and that of the coldest
month to forty-one degrees five minutes. 1 In
the United States, where the mean temper-
ature of the year is fifty-seven degrees five
minutes , that of the coldest month is only
five minutes, with many days far more in-
tense. The capriciousness of our climate is
still more dangerous to delicate vegetables
than its inclemency ; the difference of tem-
perature in a single day is almost equal to
that of the whole year, in "the South of Italy.
The Olives near Charleston were rendered
barren by the vernal frosts, which congealed
.
1 See De Humboldt's Essay on the Geographical Dis-
tribution of Plants.
(48)
the young shoots. In a more southern latitude
they would be secure in the winter, but they
would languish through a sultry summer,
unrefreshed by the healthful breezes which
they respire on the shores of the Mediterra-
nean Sea : they would , besides , find a sili-
cious instead of a calcarious soil.
But with all these disadvantages, tracts
uniting the conditions necessary for the
growth of the Olive may probably be found,
sufficiently extensive for our wants. The pos-
sibility of its flourishing on our shores has
been demonstrated by at least one experi-
ment. 1 While the Floridas were held by the
English, an adventurer of that nation led a
colony of Greeks into the eastern province.
1 Mr. Warden has obligingly pointed out to me proof*
of its existence, before the middle of the last century, in
other parts of the United States : See Burton's British
Empire in America; l)u Pratz's History of Louisiana;
American Husbandry, by an American, etc. The last men-
tioned author asserts that it thrives well in the interior
parts of Georgia. "The Olives of Louisiana,, says Du
Pralz, are of surprising beauty; the Provencal settlers
affirm that they yield as good oil as in their own country,
and the prepared fruit is found equal to that of Provence.",
and founded the settlement of New Smyrna:
the principal treasure which they brought
from their native clime \vas the Olive. Bar-
tram, who visited this settlement in 1778,
describes it, as a flourishing town. Its pros-
perity, however, was of momentary dura-
lion : driven to despair by hardship and op-
pression, and precluded from escape by land,
where they were intercepted by the wander-
ing savages , a part of these unhappy exiles
conceived the hardy enterprise of flying to
the Havannah in an open boat. The rest re-
moved to St. Augustine when ihe Spaniards
resumed possession of the country. In 1787,
a few decaying huts and several large Olives
were the only remaining traces of their in-
dustry.
Louisiana . the Floridas , the islands of
Georgia, and chosen exposures in Ihe inte-
rior of the State, will be the scene of this
culture :perhaps it will be extended to some
parts of the Western States. It has been hast-
ily concluded that the Olive can exist onl\
in the vicinity of the sea ; it is found in the
centre of Spain, and in Mesopotamia at the
distance of a hundred leagues from the shore.
The trial should be made in everyplace where
its failure is not certain ; and for this purpose
young grafted trees should be obtained from
Europe, and the formation of nurseries from
the seed immediately begun.
The Olive is perhaps the most valuable ,
but it is not the only accession that might be
made to our vegetable reign, if a more enter-
prising spirit prevailed in our husbandry,
and if establishments were formed for the
reception of exotic plants. This important
subject claims the attention of government :
amid its labours for the promotion of com-
merce and manufactures, why should not its
fostering care be extended to agriculture ?
The people of the United Slates, instructed
by experience , have consecrated an altar of
oblivion to the Genius of the waves and to
the Genius of the soil. They will not allow
one system of industry to be promoted at
the expence of another. We have solved the
transcendant problem of reconciling the in-
terest of the individual with that of the
public , by throwing down the barriers to
every species of industry, and by leaving
every man to enjoy the fruits of his labour
undiminished by the exactions of a rapacious
government. Let these principles be the im-
movable basis of our political economy. The
height of prosperity to which we have attain-
ed is doubtless attributable to the successful
enterprises of our merchants ; and our com-
merce should still be cherished and defended
like the sacred soil of the Republic. But is
not the moment arrived when we may begin
to measure the greatness of our country by
some other standard than simply that of
commercial prosperity ? With means so
ample and unembarrassed , might we not
give more activity and extension to works
of domestic improvement ? Slavery remains
to be abolished education to be perfect-
ed a national character to be formed
our strength to be established on durable
foundations, by the developement of our
internal resources. Institutions should be de-
vised, which, by assimilating the feelings of
our citizens , may corroborate that union
which is the bulwark of our national inde-
pendance, without intrenching on those sub-
ordinate sovereignties which are the guaran-
tees of our political liberty. A taste for pacific
glory should be inspired , and an impulse
given to public spirit, in harmony with that
magnanimous moderation which becomes
the future arbiter of nations.
From these great objects no schemes of
Tulgar ambition should for a moment divert
our ardour. The influence of our character
already far exceeds that of our strength , and
our claims to the rank of a primary power
arc admitted by anticipation. The attention
of the world is daily becoming more intently
fixed upon our actions. Old Europe contem-
plates us with reverent affection, as the hoary-
headed warrior gazes on the blooming hero
whose youthful achievements eclipse the glory
of his sire. A great example is wanted by
mankind ; from us they demand it ; and the
cause, of universal liberty is interested in our
conduct.
I do not utter these sentiments in the lan-
guage of reproach. Much has already been
done by my country, which is admired by
contemporary sages, and which will go down
with honour to a more enlightened and phi-
losophical posterity : all that is great and good
may be expected from her maturer wisdom :
( 53)
but I feel interested in her glory; she has
risen upon ray affections by absence, and
upon my esteem by comparison; her pro-
gress, however rapid, halts behind the im-
patience of my wishes.
Our fathers have left us a noble inheri-
tance , and it is our duty to improve it. What
surer basis can we choose for national wealth,
than a learned and enterprising agriculture?
How can we more effectually strengthen the
ties of interest that bind the extremities of
our country in indissoluble union , than by
augmenting the number and the value of their
useful productions? How can the intelligence
of a people be more favourably developed,
than by an art which gives so wide a scope
to comparative sagacity, and which brings
its conclusions to the test of immediate expe-
rience? Who are more likely to be devoted
to their country, than those who have attach-
ed the hopes of their children to its soil?
There is , besides , in the profession of agri-
culture, something so congenial to republi-
can manners, that we should naturally expect
to see the freest country the best cultivated.
Ilemate from the contest of sordid passions,
( 54)
and surrounded by all that is necessary to his
happiness, the husbandman has no induce-
ment to calculate the interest upon political
corruption A laborious life, spent in the
open air, in the majestic presence of Nature,
lends a corresponding simplicity and eleva-
tion to his character. In public stations a
patriot is often driven from his purpose by
the jealous opposition of his rivals , or by
the invincible prejudices of his age ; he must,
at least, sacrifice his freedom to the duties of
his office ; but in a life devoted to agricultu-
ral improvement , the purest sources of ra-
tional enjoyment are united : the first want
of a generous spirit is that of being useful to
mankind ; the second, is that of liberty.
FINIS.
APf
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