as Genoa, I know, and how much farther I am not
informed. The shelter of these mountains may be considered as equivalent
to a degree and a half of latitude, at least; because westward of the
commencement of the Cevennes, there are no olive trees in 43 1/2 deg.
or even 43 deg. of latitude, whereas, we find them now on the Rhone at
Pierrelatte, in 44 1/2 deg., and formerly they were at Tains, above the
mouth of the Isere, in 45 deg., sheltered by the near approach of the
Cevennes and Alps, which only leave there a passage for the Rhone.
Whether such a shelter exists or not, in the States of South Carolina
and Georgia, I know not. But this we may say, either that it exists, or
that it is not necessary there; because we know that they produce
the orange in open air; and wherever the orange will stand at all,
experience shows that the olive will stand well; being a hardier tree.
Notwithstanding the great quantities of oil made in France, they have
not enough for their own consumption, and therefore import from other
countries. This is an article, the consumption of which will always keep
pace with its production. Raise it; and it begets its own demand. Little
is carried to America, because Europe has it not to spare. We therefore
have not learned the use of it. But cover the southern States with it,
and every man will become a consumer of oil, within whose reach it can
be brought, in point of price. If the memory of those persons is held
in great respect in South Carolina, who introduced there the culture
of rice, a plant which sows life and death with almost equal hand, what
obligations would be due to him who should introduce the olive tree, and
set the example of its culture! Were the owner of slaves to view it
only as the means of bettering their condition, how much would he better
that, by planting one of those trees for every slave he possessed!
Having been myself an eye-witness to the blessings which this tree sheds
on the poor, I never had my wishes so kindled for the introduction of
any article of new culture into our own country. South Carolina and
Georgia appear to me to be the States, wherein its success, in favorable
positions at least, could not be doubted, and I flattered myself, it
would come within the views of the society for agriculture, to begin the
experiments which are to prove its practicability. Carcassonne is the
place from which the plants may be most certainly and cheaply obtained.
They can be sent f