18. The OLIVE (Olea Europea) is a low evergreen tree, which, in its general form and appearance, somewhat resembles a willow. It is cultivated in several parts of the continent, and has spear-shaped leaves, and clusters of small white flowers, that arise at the junction of the leaves and branches (Fig. 1.)
The fruit of this tree has the name of olives. These are usually about the size of a damson plum, and each contains a hard, rough stone. When first gathered they have an acrid, bitter, and unpleasant taste; and it is not until they have been steeped, for several days, in a ley of wood ashes, and then pickled in salt and water, that they are in the state to be introduced at table after dinner, in desserts. Lucca olives, being smaller than any others, have the weakest taste. The larger ones are imported from Spain, and are the strongest; but those most esteemed are the olives of Provence, which are of middle size. If olives be eaten by persons of delicate habits, especially after a solid or heavy dinner, they are considered injurious, on account of the great quantity of oil they contain.
It is to this fruit that we are indebted for the salad or olive oil, which is so much in use throughout every part of Europe. The preparation of it is as follows:—The olives, when sufficiently ripe, are carefully picked, by hand, off the trees, and those that are bad are taken out and thrown aside. After having been left a little while to wither, they are first bruised, and then more completely crushed, by an upright millstone rolling upon an horizontal plane. The paste thus formed is submitted to the operation of the press. The finest oil flows first: when no more is found to flow, the pulp is moistened with boiling water, and the mass is again pressed. This done, the remaining oil is drawn from the surface of the water, but it contains some impurities from which it cannot, without difficulty, be cleared. What remains of the pulp is squeezed into lumps or balls, and dried for fuel. If the olives be indiscriminately gathered and heaped together, sound and unsound, without selection, the oil is always bad. The wild trees yield a very small kind of fruit, which furnishes, though in less quantity, a peculiarly excellent oil.
The olive tree has ever been considered the symbol of peace; and the ancient poets have asserted that Minerva well merited the honour of giving her name to the city of Athens for having planted it in Attica. As a wood, this tree is in considerable request by cabinet makers, from its being beautifully veined, and taking an excellent polish. In some parts of Spain, ornamental boxes are made of the roots of the olive tree.
Olive oil is employed in various branches of culinary and domestic economy. When united with soda, it is manufactured into soap. It is likewise used in medicine; is adopted as a softening ingredient in almost all kinds of ointments and plasters, and is supposed to be efficacious as a remedy against the poison of the viper. Persons copiously anointed with oil are said to have escaped the infection of the plague and yellow fever.
TRIGYNIA.
19. THE COMMON JASMINE (Jasminum officinale) is a well known shrub, with white, salver-shaped flowers, and opposite, winged leaves, the leaflets somewhat pointed; and is a native of Malabar and other parts of the East.
As an ornamental shrub, jasmine has long been cultivated in Europe. It is chiefly trained against walls and trellis-work, and is interesting, not only from the elegance of its foliage, but also from the number of beautiful white flowers with which it is adorned throughout the summer and autumn. These exhale a sweet and penetrating odour, particularly after rain, and in the night.
The Italians, by a very simple operation, prepare from the flowers of jasmine a grateful perfume. They soak cotton-wool in some kind of scentless vegetable oil, and then place, in glass vessels, alternate layers of this and of the flowers. After having been left in this state some days, the flowers are found to have given the whole of their fragrance to the oil in the cotton: they are then separated, and the oil is pressed out and removed into small glass bottles for use.
20. BLACK PEPPER is the dried berry of a climbing or trailing plant (Piper nigrum, Fig. 3) which grows in the East Indies, and in most of the islands of the Indian Sea.