Olive groves

"The month of January 1956 was so mild that the tree sap had already risen. On the 31st, the men were pruning in short sleeves. During the night the temperature dropped to -18 �C, and this lasted a month! When the thaw came we heard the trees split one after the other. What a catastrophe! Not a single olive for five years. In March the olive trees were cut down, and later in spring the shoots grew out of the stumps. This is why, today, each of these trees forms a circle of many trunks. This pruning into a goblet shape clears the heart of the tree in order to favour the fruiting branches and the ripening of the olives."

Jean-Baptiste Quenin, miller, Moulin des Barres, Maussane-les-Alpilles, Bouches-du-Rhône, France

in " Planting patterns ", p. 105