A tree grown from seed, has a long tap root, and a very straight smooth stem, which shows the vigor of the plant; while a tree raised in any other way has not these advantages. Its pivot root gives it a force that other trees do not possess. It is more productive, will resist diseases better, and is a hardier tree than one raised from a cutting.
When the ground is loosened by rain, and the tree is loaded with fruit, a heavy wind sometimes overturns the olive, this could not happen to a tree from seed, its tap root takes too firm a hold. This accident occurred on the Quito Farm in the winter of 1886, and the trees which were so unfortunate had to be replanted and cut back to the crotch being lost to the place as fruit bearers for the next four years.
Again the time lost in raising from seed is more apparent than real, for, after the early years of its life, the advantages are wholly in favor of the tree raised from seed. The weight of opinion, derived from an experience of centuries, favors this method.
In 1882, the Congress of the Italian Agriculturists, meeting at Bari, arrived at the following conclusion:—That persons be recommended to raise their olive trees from seed, in preference to any other method.
If proof were needed that the olive will grow from seed in California, we have it in the fact that various parties have successfully raised the Mission olive in this way. Whatever seed may be sown, the resulting plant will be the wild type, and should be grafted, in the nursery, when from two to three years old.
By actual count on the Quito Farm, one hundred Mission olive pits gave fifty well developed germs.
To hasten germination the seeds should be stripped and soaked in lye for two or three days, then dried and placed in a dry spot, or disposed in layers in a box with dry sand, being well covered with earth to keep out water. When the time comes for sowing, sow the seeds without detaching the sand that clings to them.
