[1681] Apparently meaning the “white wax” olive.
[1682] In warm countries, a site exposed to the north is chosen: in colder ones, a site which faces the south.
[1683] See B. xvii. c. [37]. This moss has not been identified with precision; but the leaf of the olive is often attacked by an erysiphus, known to naturalists as the Alphitomorpha communis; but it is white, not of a red colour.
[1684] Fée queries how any one could possibly eat olives that had been steeped in a solution of mastich. They must have been nauseous in the extreme.
[1685] De Re Rust. c. 64.
[1686] “Fracibus.” The opinion of Pliny, that olives deteriorate by being left in the store-room, is considered to be well founded; the olives being apt to ferment, to the deterioration of the oil: at the same time, he is wrong in supposing that the amount of oil diminishes by keeping the berries.
[1687] “Cortinas.” If we may judge from the name, these vessels were three-footed, like a tripod.
[1688] There are no good grounds for this recommendation, which is based on the erroneous supposition that heat increases the oil in the berry. The free circulation of the air also ought not to be restricted, as nothing is gained by it. In general, the method of extracting the oil is the same with the moderns as with the ancients, though these last did not employ the aid of boiling water.
[1689] Labra.
[1690] A “making,” or “batch.”