In Belgium a sandy series (Wemmelian, Asschian, Henisian), | in the Eocene seas (Coelopleurus, Echinolampus, Clypeaster, Scutella). mainly of brackish-water origin, is succeeded by the marine sands of Corals were abundant, and nummulites still continued till near the Bergh (with the clay of Boom), which pass up through the inferior close of the period, but they were diminished in size. sands of Bolderberg into the Miocene. In Switzerland, beyond the REFERENCES.-" Geology of the Isle of Wight." Mem. Geol. limits of the Flysch, nearer the Alpine massif, is a belt of grits, Survey (2nd ed. 1889); A. von Koenen, Abhand. geol. Specialkart limestones and clays in an uncompacted condition, to which the name Preuss. X (1889-1894); M. Vollest, Der Braunkohlenbergbaum "molasse" is usually given; mixed with the molasse is an inconstant (Halle, 1889); E. van den Brocek, "Matériaux pour l'étude de conglomeratic littoral formation, called Nagelfluh. The molasse l'Oligocène belge," Bull. Soc. Belg. Geol. (1894); also the works of occurs also in Bavaria, where it is several thousand feet thick and O. Heer, H. Filhol, G. Vasseur, H. F. Osborn, A. Gaudry, H. Douvillé, contains lignites. Oligocene deposits occur in the Carpathian region R. B. Newton, H Dall, M. Cossmann, G. Lambert, &c., and the and Tirol; as Flysch and brackish and lacustrine beds with lignite article FLYSCH (J. A. H.) in Klausenburg, lignites at Häring in Tirol. In the Spanish Pyrences OLIGOCLASE, a rock-forming mineral belonging to the they are well developed; in the Apennines the scaly clays ("argille plagioclase (qv) division of the felspars. In chemical comscagliose ") are of this age; while in Calabria they are represented by thick conglomerates and Flysch. Flysch appears also in Dalmatia position and in its crystallographical and physical characters and Istria (where it is called "tassello ") and in North Bosnia, it is intermediate between albite (NaAlSiO) and anorthite where it contains marine limestones. Lignites are found at Sotzka (CaAl Si2Os), being an isomorphous mixture of three to six and Styria, marine beds in the Balkan peninsula, glauconitic sands molecules of the former with one of the latter. It is thus a sodaprevail in South Russia, Flysch with sands and grits in the Caucasus, lime felspar crystallizing in the anorthic system. Varieties while marine deposits also occupy the Aral-Caspian region and Armenia, and are to be traced into Persia. Oligocene rocks are known intermediate between oligoclase and albite are known as oligoin North Africa, Algeria, Tunis and Egypt, with the silicified trees clase-albite. The name oligoclase was given by A. Breithaupt and basalt sheets north of the Fayum. In North America the rocks in 1826 from the Gr. óλiyos, little, and κλây, to break, because the of this period have not been very clearly differentiated, but they may possibly be represented by the White river beds of S. Dakota, mineral was thought to have a less perfect cleavage than albite. the white and blue marls of Jackson on the Mississippi, the "Jack-It had previously been recognized as a distinct species by J. J. sonian" white limestone of Alabama, the limestone of Ocala in Berzelius in 1824, and was named by him soda-spodumene Florida, certain lacustrine clays in the Uinta basin, and by the rib (Natron -spodumen), because of its resemblance in appearance band shales with asphalt and petroleum in the coastal range of California. In South America and the Antilles upper Oligocene is to spodumene. The hardness is 6 and the sp. gr. 2·65-2-67. found, and the lignite beds of Coronel and Lota in Chile and in the In colour it is usually whitish, with shades of grey, green or red. Straits of Magellan may be of this age; in Patagonia are the lower Perfectly colourless and transparent glassy material found at Oligocene marine beds ("Patagonian ") and beds with mammalian Bakersville in North Carolina has occasionally been faceted as remains. In New Zealand the Oamaru series of J. Hutton is regarded as Oligocene; at its base are interstratified basic volcanic rocks. a gem-stone. Another variety more frequently used as a gemA correlation of Oligocene strata is summarized in the following stone is the aventurine-felspar or "sun-stone" (q.v.) found as table:reddish cleavage masses in gneiss at Tvedestrand in southern OLIGOCENE SYSTEM 8.

The land flora of this period was a rich one consisting largely of evergreens with characters akin to those of tropical India and Australia and subtropical America. Sequoias, sabal palms, ferns, cinnamon-trees, gum-trees, oaks, figs, laurels and willows were common. Chara is a common fossil in the fresh-water beds. The most interesting feature of the land fauna was undoubtedly the astonishing variety of mammalians, especially the long series from the White river beds and others in the interior of North America. Pachyderms were very numerous. Many of the mammals were of mixed types, Hyaenodon (between marsupials and placentals), Adapis (between pachyderms and lemurs), and many were clearly the forerunners of living genera. Rhinocerids were represented in the upper Oligocene by the hornless Aceratherium; Palacomastodon and Arsinoitherium, from Egypt are early proboscidian forms which may have lived in this period; Anchitherium, Anchippus, &c., were forerunners of the horse. Palaeotherium, Anthracotherium, Palaeogale, Steneofiber, Cynodictis, Diniclis, Ictops, Palaeolagus, Sciurus, Colodon, Hyopotamus, Orcodon, Pocbrotherium, Protoceras, Hypertragulus and the gigantic Titanotherids (Titanotherium, Brontotherium, &c.) are some of the important genera, representatives of most of the modern groups, including carnivores (Canidae and Felidae), insectivores, rodents, ruminants, camels. Tortoises were abundant, and the genus Rana made its appearance. Rays and dogfish were the dominant marine fish; logoonal brackish-water fish are represented by Prolebias, Smerdis, &c. Insects abounded and arachnids were rapidly developing. Gasteropods were increasing in importance, most of the genera still existing (Cerithium, Potamides, Melania, large Naticas, Pleurotomaria, Volula, Turritella, Rostellaria, Pyrula). Cephalopods, on the other hand, show a falling off. Pelecypods include the genera Cardita, Peetunculus, Lucina, Ostrea, Cyrena, Cytherea. Bryozoa were very abundant (Membranipora, Lepralia, Hornera, Idmonea). Echinoids were less numerous than

Norway; this presents a brilliant red metallic glitter, due to the presence of numerous small scales of haematite or göthite enclosed in the felspar

Oligoclase occurs, often accompanying orthoclase, as a constituent of igneous rocks of various kinds; for instance, amongst plutonic rocks in granite, syenite, diorite; amongst dike-rocks in porphyry and diabase; and amongst volcanic rocks in andesite and trachyte. It also occurs in gneiss. The best developed and largest crystals are those found with orthoclase, quartz, epidote and calcite in veins in granite at Arendal in Norway. (L. J. S.) OLIPHANT, LAURENCE (1829-1888), British author, son of Anthony Oliphant (1793-1859), was born at Cape Town.

The family to which Oliphant belonged is old and famous in Scottish history, Sir Laurence Oliphant of Aberdalgie, Perthshire, who was created a lord of the Scottish parliament before 1458, was descended from Sir William Oliphant of Aberdalgie and on the female side from King Robert the Bruce. Sir William (d. 1329) is renowned for his brave defence of Stirling castle against Edward I. in 1304. Sir Laurence was sent to conclude a treaty with England in 1484; he helped to establish the young king James IV. on his throne, and he died about 1500. His son John, the 2nd lord (d. 1516), having lost his son and heir, Colin, at Flodden, was succeeded by his grandson Laurence (d. 1566), who was taken prisoner by the English at the rout of Solway Moss in 1542. Laurence's son, Laurence, the 4th lord (1529-1593), was a partisan of Mary queen of Scots, and was succeeded by his grandson Laurence (1583-1631), who left no sons when he died. The 6th lord was Patrick Oliphant, a descendant of the 4th lord, and the title was held by his descendants

His father was then attorney-general in Cape Colony, but was | in the vain hope of obtaining a lease of the northern half of the soon transferred as chief justice to Ceylon. The boy's education Holy Land with a view to settling large numbers of Jews there. was of the most desultory kind. Far the least useless portion This he conceived would be an easy task from a financial point of it belonged to the years 1848 and 1849, when he accompanied of view, as there were so many persons in England and America his parents on a tour on the continent of Europe. In 1851 anxious to fulfil the prophecies, and bring about the end of the he accompanied Jung Bahadur from Colombo to Nepaul. He world." He landed once more in England without having passed an agreeable time there, and saw enough that was new accomplished anything definite; but his wife, who had been to enable him to write his first book, A Journey to Katmandu banished from him for years and had been living in California, (1852). From Nepaul he returned to Ceylon and thence to was allowed to rejoin him, and they went to Egypt together. England, dallied a little with the English bar, so far at least In 1881 he crossed again to America. It was on this visit that as to eat dinners at Lincoln's Inn, and then with the Scottish he became utterly disgusted with Harris, and finally split from bar, so far at least as to pass an examination in Roman law him. He was at first a little afraid that his wife would not He was more happily inspired when he threw over his legal follow him in his renunciation of "the prophet," but this studies and went to travel in Russia. The outcome of that tour was not the case, and they settled themselves very agreewas his book on The Russian Shores of the Black Sea (1853). ably, with one house in the midst of the German community Between 1853 and 1861 he was successively secretary to Lord at Haifa, and another about twelve miles off at Dalich on Mount Elgin during the negotiation of the Canada Reciprocity treaty Carmel. at Washington, the companion of the duke of Newcastle on a visit to the Circassian coast during the Crimean War, and Lord Elgin's private secretary on his expedition to China. Each of these experiences produced a pleasant book of travel. In 1861 he was appointed first secretary in Japan, and might have made a successful diplomatic career if it had not been interrupted, almost at the outset, by a night attack on the legation, in which he nearly lost his life. It seems probable that he never properly recovered from this affair. He returned to England and resigned the service, and was elected to parliament in 1865 for the Stirling Burghs.

Oliphant did not show any conspicuous parliamentary ability, but made a great success by his vivacious and witty novel, Piccadilly (1870). He fell, however, under the influence of the spiritualist prophet Thomas Lake Harris (q.v.), who about 1861 had organized a small community, the Brotherhood of the New Life,' which at this time was settled at Brocton on Lake Erie and subsequently moved to Santa Rosa in California. Harris obtained so strange an ascendancy over Oliphant that the latter left parliament in 1868, followed him to Brocton, and lived there the life of a farm labourer, in obedience to the imperious will of his spiritual guide. The cause of this painful and grotesque aberration has never been made quite clear. It was part of the Brocton régime that members of the community should be allowed to return into the world from time to time, to make money for its advantage. After three years this was permitted to Oliphant, who, when once more in Europe, acted as correspondent of The Times during the Franco-German War, and spent afterwards several years at Paris in the service of that journal. There he met Miss Alice le Strange, whom he married. In 1873 he went back to Brocton, taking with him his wife and mother. During the years which followed he continued to be employed in the service of the community and its head, but on work very different from that with which he had been occupied on his first sojourn. His new work was chiefly financial, and took him much to New York and a good deal to England. As late as December 1878 he continued to believe that Harris was an incarnation of the Deity. By that time, however, his mind was occupied with a large project of colonization in Palestine, and he made in 1879 an extensive journey in that country, going also to Constantinople, until the death of Francis, the 10th lord, in April 1748. It has since been claimed by several persons, but without success. Another member of the family was Laurence Oliphant (16911767) the Jacobite, who belonged to a branch settled at Gask in Perthshire. He took part in the rising of 1715. and both he and his son Laurence (d. 1792) were actively concerned in that of 1745 being present at the battles of Falkirk and Culloden. After the ruin of the Stuart cause they escaped to France, but were afterwards allowed to return to Scotland. One of this Oliphant's descendants was Carolina, Baroness Nairne (q.v.).

It should be mentioned that the unfavourable view of Harris taken by Oliphant's own biographer, and certainly not shaken by subsequent evidence, has been strongly repudiated by some who knew him. Mr J., Cuming Walters, for instance, in the Westminster Gazette (London, July 28, 1906) defends the purity of his character. It is difficult to arrive at the exact truth as to Oliphant's relations with him, or the financial scandal which ended them; and it must be admitted that Oliphant himself was at least decidedly cranky.

It was at Haifa in 1884 that they wrote together the strange book called Sympneumata: Evolutionary Forces now active in Man, and in the next year Oliphant produced there his novel Masollam, which may be taken to contain its author's latest views with regard to the personage whom he long considered as "a new Avatar." One of his cleverest works, Altiora Peto, had been published in 1883. In 1886 an attack of fever, caught on the shores of the Lake of Tiberias, resulted in the death of his wife, whose constitution had been undermined by the hardships of her American life. He was persuaded that after death he was in much closer relation with her than when she was still alive, and conceived that it was under her influence that he wrote the book to which he gave the name of Scientific Religion. In November 1887 he went to England to publish that book. By the Whitsuntide of 1888 he had completed it and started for America. There he determined to marry again, his second wife being a granddaughter of Robert Owen the Socialist. They were married at Malvern, and meant to have gone to Haïfa, but Oliphant was taken very ill at Twickenham, and died on the 23rd of December 1888. Although a very clever man and a delightful companion, full of high aspiration and noble feeling, Oliphant was only partially sane. In any case, his education was ludicrously inappropriate for a man who aspired to be an authority on religion and philosophy. He had gone through no philosophical discipline in his early life, and knew next to nothing of the subjects with regard to which he imagined it was in his power to pour a flood of new light upon the world. His shortcomings and eccentricities, however, did not prevent his being a brilliant writer and talker, and a notable figure in any society.

See Mrs (Margaret) Oliphant, Memoir of the Life of Laurence Oliphant and of Alice Oliphant his Wife (1892). (M. G. D.)

OLIPHANT, MARGARET OLIPHANT (1828-1897), British novelist and historical writer, daughter of Francis Wilson, was born at Wallyford, near Musselburgh, Midlothian, in 1828. Her childhood was spent at Lasswade (near Dalkeith), Glasgow and Liverpool. As a girl she constantly occupied herself with literary experiments, and in 1849 published her first novel, Passages in the Life of Mrs Margaret Maitland. It dealt with the Scottish Free Church movement, with which Mr and Mrs Wilson both sympathized, and had some success. This she followed up in 1851 with Caleb Field, and in the same year met Major Blackwood in Edinburgh, and was invited by him to contribute to the famous Blackwood's Magazine. The connexion thus early commenced lasted during her whole lifetime, and she contributed considerably more than 100 articles to its pages In May 1852 she married her cousin, Frank Wilson Oliphant, at Birkenhead, and settled at Harrington Square, in London. Her husband was an artist, principally in stained glass. He had very delicate health, and two of their children died in infancy, while the father himself developed alarming symptoms of consumption. For the sake of his health they moved in January 1859 to Florence, and thence to Rome, where Frank Oliphant died. His wife, left almost entirely without resources, returned to England and took up the burden of supporting her three

children by her own literary activity. She had now become a | minister, was born in Rome, where his father was Spanish popular writer, and worked with amazing industry to sustain her position. Unfortunately, her home life was full of sorrow and disappointment. In January 1864 her only daughter died in Rome, and was buried in her father's grave. Her brother, who had emigrated to Canada, was shortly afterwards involved in financial ruin, and Mrs Oliphant offered a home to him and his children, and added their support to her already heavy responsibilities. In 1866 she settled at Windsor to be near her sons who were being educated at Eton. This was her home for the rest of her life, and for more than thirty years she pursued a varied literary career with courage scarcely broken by a series of the gravest troubles. The ambitions she cherished for her sons were unfulfilled. Cyril Francis, the elder, died in 1890, leaving a Life of Alfred de Musset, incorporated in his mother's Foreign Classics for English Readers. The younger, Frank, collaborated with her in the Victorian Age of English Literature and won a position at the British Museum, but was rejected by the doctors. He died in 1894. With the last of her children lost to her, she had but little further interest in life. Her health steadily declined, and she died at Wimbledon, on the 25th of June 1897.

In the course of her long struggle with circumstances, Mrs Oliphant produced more than 120 separate works, including novels, books of travel and description, histories and volumes of literary criticism. Among the best known of her works of fiction are Adam Graeme (1852), Magdalen Hepburn (1854), Lilliesleaf (1855), The Laird of Norlaw (1858) and a series of stories with the collective title of The Chronicles of Carlingford, which, originally appearing in Blackwood's Magazine (1862-1865), did much to widen her reputation. This series included Salem Chapel (1863), The Rector; and the Doctor's Family (1863), The Perpetual Curate (1864) and Miss Marjoribanks (1866). Other successful novels were Madonna Mary (1867), Squire Arden (1871), He that will not when he may (1880), Hester (1883), Kirsteen (1890), The Marriage of Elinor (1892) and The Ways of Life (1897). Her tendency to mysticism found expression in The Beleaguered City (1880) and A Little Pilgrim in the Unseen (1882). Her biographies of Edward Irving (1862) and Laurence Oliphant (1892), together with her life of Sheridan in the "English Men of Letters (1883), have vivacity and a sympathetic touch. She also wrote historical and critical works of considerable variety, including Historical Sketches of the Reign of George II. (1869), The Makers of Florence (1876), A Literary History of England from 1790 to 1825 (1882), The Makers of Venice (1887), Royal Edinburgh (1890), Jerusalem (1891) and The Makers of Modern Rome (1895), while at the time of her death she was still occupied upon Annals of a Publishing House, a record of the progress and achievement of the firm of Blackwood, with which she had been so long and honourably connected.

"

Iler Autobiography and Letters, which present a touching picture of her domestic anxieties, appeared in 1899.

OLIPHANT, OLIFANT (Ger. Helfant), the large signal horn of the middle ages, made, as its name indicates, from the tusk of an elephant. The oliphant was the instrument of knights and men of high degree, and was usually ornamented with scenes of hunting or war carved either lengthways or round the horn in sections divided by bands of gold and studded with gems. The knights used their oliphants in the hunting field and in battle, and the loss of this precious horn was considered as shameful as the loss of sword or banner.

OLIVA, FERNAN PEREZ DE (14927-1530), Spanish man of letters, was born at Cordoya about 1492. After studying at Salamanca, Alcalá, Paris and Rome, he was appointed rector at Salamanca, where he died in 1530. His Diálogo de la dignidad del hombre (1543), an unfinished work completed by Francisco Cervantes de Salazar, was written chiefly to prove the suitability of Spanish as a vehicle for philosophic discussion. He also published translations of the Amphitruo (1525), the Electra (1528) and the Hecuba (1528).

OLIVARES, GASPAR DE GUZMAN, count of Olivares and duke of San Lucar (1587-1645), Spanish royal favourite and

ambassador, on the 6th of January 1587. His compound title is
explained by the fact that he inherited the title of count of
Olivares, but was created duke of San Lucar by the favour of
Philip IV. He begged the king to allow him to preserve his
inherited title in combination with the new honour-according
to a practice of which there are a few other examples in Spanish
history. Therefore he was commonly spoken of as el conde-
duque. During the life of Philip III. he was appointed to a post
in the household of the heir apparent, Philip, by the interest of
his maternal uncle Don Baltasar de Zúñiga, who was the head of
the prince's establishment. Olivares made it his business to
acquire the most complete influence over the young prince.
When Philip IV. ascended the throne in 1621, at the age of six-
teen, he showed his confidence in Olivares by ordering that all
papers requiring the royal signature should first be sent to the
count-duke. Olivares could now boast to his uncle Don
Baltasar de Zúñiga that he was "all." He became what is
known in Spain as a valido-something more than a prime
minister, the favourite and alter ego of the king. For twenty-two
years he directed the policy of Spain. It was a period of constant
war, and finally of disaster abroad and of rebellion at home.
The Spaniards, who were too thoroughly monarchical to blame
the king, held his favourite responsible for the misfortunes of the
country. The count-duke became, and for long remained, in
the opinion of his countrymen, the accepted model of a grasping
and incapable favourite. Of late, largely under the inspiration
of Don Antonio Canovas, there has been a certain reaction in his
favour. It would certainly be most unjust to blame Olivares
alone for the decadence of Spain, which was due to internal
causes of long standing. The gross errors of his policy-the
renewal of the war with Holland in 1621, the persistence of Spain
in taking part in the Thirty Years' War, the lesser wars undertaken
in northern Italy, and the entire neglect of all effort to promote
the unification of the different states forming the peninsular
kingdom-were shared by him with the king, the Church and
the commercial classes. When he had fallen from power he
wrote an apology, in which he maintained that he had always
wished to see more attention paid to internal government, and
above all to the complete unification of Portugal with Spain.
But if this was not an afterthought, he must, on his own showing,
stand accused of having carried out during long years a policy
which he knew to be disastrous to his country, rather than risk
the loss of the king's favour and of his place. Olivares did not
share the king's taste for art and literature, but he formed a vast
collection of state papers, ancient and contemporary, which he
endeavoured to protect from destruction by entailing them as an
heirloom. He also formed a splendid aviary which, under the
name of the "hencoop," was a favourite subject of ridicule with
his enemies. Towards the end of his period of favour he caused
great offence by legitimizing a supposed bastard son of very
doubtful paternity and worthless personal character, and by
arranging a rich marriage for him. The fall of Olivares was
immediately due to the revolts of Portugal and Catalonia in 1640.
The king parted with him reluctantly, and only under the pressure
of a strong court intrigue headed by Queen Isabella. It was
noted with anxiety by his enemies that he was succeeded in the
king's confidence by his nephew the count of Haro. There
remains, however, a letter from the king, in which Philip tells his
old favourite, with frivolous ferocity, that it might be necessary
to sacrifice his life in order to avert unpopularity from the royal
house. Olivares was driven from office in 1643. He retired by
the king's order to Toro. Here he endeavoured to satisfy his
passion for activity, partly by sharing in the municipal govern-
ment of the town and the regulation of its commons, woods and
pastures, and partly by the composition of the apology he
published under the title of El Nicandro, which was perhaps
written by an agent, but was undeniably inspired by the fallen
minister The Nicandro was denounced to the Inquisition, and
it is not impossible that Olivares might have ended in the prisons
of the Holy Office, or on the scaffold, if he had not died on the
22nd of July 1645.

See the Estudios del reinado de Felipe IV. of Don Antonio Canovas | unchecked by pruning, is of very slow growth; but, where (Madrid, 1889); and Don F. Silvela's introduction, much less favourable to Olivares, to his edition of the Cartas de Sor Maria de allowed for ages its natural development, the trunk sometimes Agreda y del rey Felipe IV. (Madrid, 1885-1886). attains a considerable diameter. De Candolle records one exceeding 23 ft. in girth, the age being supposed to amount to seven centuries. Some old Italian olives have been credited with an antiquity reaching back to the first years of the empire, or even to the days of republican Rome; but the age of such ancient trees is always doubtful during growth, and their identity with old descriptions still more difficult to establish. The tree in cultivation rarely exceeds 30 ft. in height, and in France and Italy is generally confined to much more limited dimensions by frequent pruning. The wood, of a yellow or light greenish| brown hue, is often finely veined with a darker tint, and, being very hard and close grained, is valued by the cabinetmaker and ornamental turner.

OLIVE (Olea europaea), the plant that yields the olive oil of commerce, belonging to a section of the natural order Oleaceae, of which it has been taken as the type. The genus Olea includes about thirty species, very widely scattered, chiefly over the Old World, from the basin of the Mediterranean to South Africa and New Zealand. The wild olive is a small tree or bush of rather straggling growth, with thorny branches and opposite oblong pointed leaves, dark greyish-green above and, in the young state, hoary beneath with whitish scales, the small white flowers, with four-cleft calyx and corolla, two stamens and bifid stigma, are borne on the last year's wood, in racemes springing from the axils of the leaves; the drupaceous fruit is small in the wild plant, and the fleshy pericarp, which gives the cultivated olive its economic value, is hard and comparatively thin. In the cultivated forms the tree acquires a more compact habit, the branches lose their spinous character, while the young shoots become more or less angular; the leaves are always hoary on the under-side, and are generally lanceolate in shape, though varying much in breadth and size in the different kinds. The fruit is subject to still greater changes of form and colour; usually oval or nearly globular, in some sorts it is egg-shaped, in others much elongated;

while the dark hue that

"

The olive is propagated in various ways, but cuttings or layers are generally preferred; the tree roots in favourable soil almost as easily as the willow, and throws up suckers from the stump when cut down. Branches of various thickness are cut into lengths of several feet shorter pieces are sometimes laid horizontally in shallow trenches, each, and, planted rather deeply in manured ground, soon vegetate; when, covered with a few inches of soil, they rapidly throw up suckerlike shoots. In Greece and the islands grafting the cultivated tree on the wild form is a common practice. In Italy embryonic buds, which form small swellings on the stems, are carefully excised and planted beneath the surface, where they grow readily, these "uovoli soon forming a vigorous shoot. Occasionally the larger boughs are inarched, and young trees thus soon obtained. The olive is also sometimes raised from seed, the oily pericarp being first softened by slight rotting, or soaking in hot water or in an alkaline solution, to attention from the husbandman, the branches being allowed to grow facilitate germination. The olives in the East often receive little freely and without curtailment by the pruning-knife; water, however, must be supplied in long droughts to ensure a crop; with this neglectful culture the trees bear abundantly only at intervals of three or four years; thus, although wild growth is favourable to the picturesque aspect of the plantation, it is not to be recommended on economic grounds. Where the olive is carefully cultivated, as in it commonly assumes Languedoc and Provence, it is planted in rows at regular intervals, when ripe is exchanged the distance between the trees varying in different "olivettes,' in many varieties for according to the variety grown. Careful pruning is practised, the object being to preserve the flower-bearing shoots of the preceding violet, green or almost year, while keeping the head of the tree low, so as to allow the easy white. At present the gathering of the fruit; a dome or rounded form is generally the aim wild olive is found in of the pruner. The spaces between the trees are occasionally most of the countries manured with rotten dung or other nitrogenous matter; in France woollen rags are in high esteem for this purpose. Various annual around the Mediter- crops are sometimes raised between the rows, and in Calabria wheat ranean, extending its even is grown in this way; but the trees are better without any intermediate cropping. Latterly a dwarf variety, very prolific and A, Shoot of olive (Olea europaea) (from range on the west to nature), reduced; B, opened flower; C, Portugal, and eastward with green fruit, has come into favour in certain localities, especially in America, where it is said to have produced a crop two or three vertical section of pistil. B and C en- to the vicinity of the seasons after planting. The ordinary kinds do not become profitable larged. Caspian, while, locally, to the grower until from five to seven years after the cuttings are it occurs even in Afghanistan. An undoubted native of placed in the olive-ground. Apart from occasional damage by Syria and the maritime parts of Asia Minor, its abund-weather or organic foes, the olive crop is somewhat precarious even with the most careful cultivation, and the large untended trees so ance in Greece and the islands of the Archipelago, and the often seen in Spain and Italy do not yield that certain income to the frequent allusions to it by the earliest poets, seem to peasant proprietor that some authors have attributed to them; the indicate that it was there also indigenous; but in localities crop from these old trees is often enormous, but they seldom bear remote from the Levant it may have escaped from cultivation, well two years in succession, and in many instances a luxuriant harvest can only be reckoned upon every sixth or seventh season. reverting more or less to its primitive type. It shows a marked The fruit when ripe is, by the careful grower, picked by hand and preference for calcareous soils and a partiality for the sea-breeze, deposited in cloths or baskets for conveyance to the mill; but in flourishing with especial luxuriance on the limestone slopes many parts of Spain and Greece, and generally in Asia, the olives and crags that often form the shores of the Greek, peninsula are beaten down by poles or by shaking the boughs, or even allowed to drop naturally, often lying on the ground until the convenience and adjacent islands. of the owner admits of their removal; much of the inferior oil owes its bad quality to the carelessness of the proprietor of the trees. In southern Europe the olive harvest is in the winter months, continuing for several weeks; but the time varies in each country, and also with the season and the kinds cultivated. The amount of oil contained in the fruit differs much in the various sorts; the pericarp usually yields from 60 to 70%. The ancient agriculturists believed that the olive would not succeed if planted more than a few leagues from the sea (Theophrastus gives 300 stadia as the limit), but modern experience does not confirm the idea, and, though showing a preference for the coast, it has long been grown far inland. A calcareous soil, however dry or poor, seems best adapted to its healthy develop ment, though the tree will grow in any light soil, and even on clay if well drained; but, as remarked by Pliny, the plant is more liable to disease on rich soils, and the oil is inferior to the produce of the poorer and more rocky ground the species naturally affects. The olive suffers greatly in some years from the attacks of various enemies. A fungoid growth has at times infested the trees for several

The varieties of olive known to the modern cultivator are extremely numerous-according to some authorities equalling or exceeding in number those of the vine. In France and Italy at least thirty kinds have been enumerated, but comparatively few are grown to any large extent. None of these can be safely identified with ancient descriptions, though it is not unlikely that some of the narrow-leaved sorts that are most esteemed may be descendants of the famed "Licinian" (see below). Italy retains its old pre-eminence in olive cultivation; and, though its ancient Gallic province now excels it in the production of the finer oils, its fast-improving culture may restore the old prestige. The broad-leaved olive trees of Spain bear a larger fruit, but the pericarp is of more bitter flavour and the oil of ranker quality. The olive tree, even when free increase is