Riondet explains to us how the young olive tree, raised from seed, develops always a long taproot, which constitutes its principal and often its only support; and that when transplanting it to permanent site, after a long stay in a nursery, the cutting of said tap-root, which then becomes indispensable, inflicts upon its system a serious injury from which it is likely to suffer for years.
It seems thus established that the olive tree grown from the seed—which is the method most generally followed in the regions of Europe where the severe winters experienced occasionally make it desirable to render the tree as hardy as possible—has to be kept about seven years in nursery, and that at its transplantation it will experience a severe check which will be the natural result of meddling with its tap-root, as also of cutting back its top.
Is it then at all surprising that a half generation should pass before the olive tree so produced reaches bearing? Many people who have not carefully studied olive culture seem to believe that this is an inevitable result. We shall see by further explanations that it is not.
Let us pass now to the consideration of the propagation of the olive by cuttings. We would state in common with Coutance, Amoureux, Riondet, DuBreuil, Reynaud, and many others, that a cutting coming from an olive tree that has been grafted, and of a good variety, needs no grafting. This operation is however necessary
