74<5 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[MaV 2, 1887, 



Trees planted at the distance of 20 feet and well 

 kept will in 10 years touch each other. When this 

 coudition is reached they will he in full bearing, and 

 therefore will re(|uire constant pruning or cutting back. 

 It is much easier and less expensive to gather the 

 fruit from small trees ; besides if the pruning is intelli- 

 gently done, it will improve the fruit and secure a 

 greater quantity to the acre than can be produced 

 under any other conditions. 



Some orchards in Europe are planted in "threes," 

 that is three trees in each place planted in the form 

 of a triangle, and three or four feet apart. This method 

 would require the rows to be o3 to '60 feet distant, 

 and would give him about the same number of trees 

 to the acre as by planting at 20 feet, one tree in 

 each place. It is claimed that by planting in this 

 way no staking is required, the trees protect one 

 another from the most violent wind-storms, the trim- 

 ming is simplified, and less care and. labour required 

 jn the cultivation. 



Fbuit-bbaring, — Trees growing from cuttings will pro- 

 duce fruit the fourth year, and sometimes, under the most 

 favourable circumstances, will give a few berries the third 

 year. It is the habit of the tree to overbear, and 

 as a consequence will give but very little fruit the 

 year following a heavy crop. This statement is verified 

 by the most reliable books published on the subject 

 in the French, Italian and Spanish languages. There 

 are, however, exceptions to this rule in California. 

 Mr, Davis, who had charge of the San Diego Mission 

 orchard in 1875, assured mo that he had gathered 

 from the same tree, two years in succession, over 150 

 gallons of berries. I have also observed that some 

 trees in my orchards have borue well successive years. 

 The fruit-bearing can be controlled by the pruning. 

 The cultivator will not forget that the shoots or bran- 

 ches must be two years old before they will give 

 fruit; hence partial pruning every year will give 

 partial crops. My oldest orchard was planted Feb- 

 ruary 21, 1872. At four years I gathered from some 

 of the trees over two gallons of berries ; in 1878 

 over 30 gallons each off a few of the best trees, 

 the orchard being then only six years old ; in 1879, 

 the seventh year, the crop was not nearly so large. 

 I had planted several thousand cuttings in the spring 

 of 1873, but these trees did not give at six years 

 a result equal to the first planting. The present 

 crop (1880) is quite good, the oldest orchard now 

 being eight years ; and I think I do not over-estimate 

 when I state that the yield of some of the best and 

 fullest will be over 40 gallons. Trees large enough 

 to give this quality of fruit planted at a distance of 

 '^0 leet, will occupy nearly all the ground, and therefore 

 will give all the fruit that can be produced on one 

 acre. An orchard bearing uniformly the quantity as 

 above, would give the following result:— One hundred 

 trees to the acre at 40 gallons each, 4,000 gallons. 

 This would be an enormous crop, unprecedented, and 

 far beyond any statistics given in Eiiropean publications. 

 The one-fourth of the quantity yearly would be a 

 very profitable crop. In estimating an orchard, the 

 yield of isolated trees or trees of ^ re.it age, occupying 

 considerable areas of ground, must not euter into a 

 basis of calculation of the probable production. The 

 tree mentioned in the San Diego Mission orchard as 

 yielding 150 gallons of berries was more than 50 feet 

 distant from those surrounding it. My agent, while 

 travelling in Europe through the olive district, measur.'d 

 a tree growing in the " Alpes Maritimes " that was 

 8 feet in diameter, 6 feet above the ground, and at 

 the ground 15 feet in diameter. Ouly a few trees of 

 such trees could be grown on one acre. A. Coutance, 

 Professor des Sciences Naturelles aux Ecoles de Medi- 

 cine de la Marine of France, compiled a very ex- 

 haustive work on the olive, published in Paris in 1877, 

 from which I opy and translate as follows :— « Large 

 pHve trees occupy 1,000 square feet of ground— that 

 Js, require to be distant from each other about 33 

 feet; will produce every second year 37 gallons of 

 berries, and occasionally as much as 125 to 150 gallons. 

 One tree. 9 years old and 9 inches in diameter, will 

 produce 16 1-3 gallons; one 12 inches in diameter 



24 gallons. The measurement and number of trees 

 occupying one hectare (two-and-a-half acres) is given 

 as follows: — 15 trees 12 inches in diameter, 75 trees 

 9 inches in diameter, 60 trees 5 inches in diameter: 

 total, 150 trees. Product of same, 3,000 gallons of 

 berries. This would be equal to l.-.'OO gallons to the 

 acre. Another authority gives 2,250 gallons per hectare. 

 Still another gives 2,150. All of the above results 

 once in two years. Several authorities quoted by the 

 same author reckon 200 trees to each hectare. This 

 would be 80 trees to tho acre, and distant apart 23| 

 feet. French cultivators give the quantity of oil 

 contained in a given quantity of fruit as one-eighth, 

 and in weight one-tenth; that is, eight gallons of 

 berries to one gallon of oil, and about 50 lb. of berries 

 to one gallon of oil. Taking the average quantity of 

 the production as given above from a mature orchard, 

 we have in oil per tree two to two and a-half gallons 

 every second year. This result is obtained by thorough 

 fertilising, without which the berries would yield but 

 little oil. Olive trees grown from seeds are not re- 

 moved from the nursery until about seven years old ; 

 grown from cuttings they bear in Europe as early 

 as thej' do in Oalifornia. The newness and richness 

 of our soil will probably give, the first 50 years, double 

 the results given in those countries where oil-making 

 has been the business of so many generations. Our 

 climate is congenial to the habit of the tree ; it bloome 

 from the 1st to the 10th of May, and the fruit forms 

 from the 1st ^o the 10th of June. At this season ws 

 have our best weather, free from extremes of either 

 cold or heat. Nowhere in the world are all the con- 

 ditions so favourable to the perfect fruit-bearing. 



Fruit-picking.— The olive usually ripens in November. 

 In some localities in Eastern countries, during favour- 

 able years, the fruit-picking for oil begins as early 

 as October, and for pickling in September. In Santa 

 Barbara the crop of last year 1880, as also that of 

 1878, was unusually late in ripening, not being ready 

 to pick before the middle of January — a delay of 

 fully two months — the cause, no doubt, owing to the 

 extraordinary rainfall of these two years. In 1878 we 

 had after the middle of February and up to the middle 

 of April, a rainfall of over 14 inches, and in 1880 

 over IG inches, being more than our yearly average. 

 The fruit should be gathered as soon as it turns 

 purple and before fully ripe, as the oil will be lighter 

 in colour and more fragrant, but somewhat less in 

 quantity. In Europe the common method of gathering 

 the berries is to knock them from the trees with 

 poles. They are then picked from the grouad by old 

 men, women, children, and cripples. This plan has 

 many objections, the fruit being more or less bruised, 

 cau>ing decomposition, and the contact with the earth 

 is liable to give the oil an unpleasant taste and odour. 

 The most economical plan of gathering is to pick 

 from the trees b}' hand, and by the aid of intelligent 

 contrivances, an active man can pick 400 lb. each day. 

 I have arranged on a ranch waggon platforms with 

 ladders securely fastened, so that the fruit from the 

 diflferent heights of even large trees can be gathered 

 from the waggon, which is driven along the rows, and one- 

 half of the trees picked from each side. This plan 

 o'niites the necessity of moving ladders, climbing, 

 kc. and relieves the pickers from the labour of carrying 

 the triiit-, as the sacks containing the same are. always 

 at hand on the platform. The leaves and imperfect 

 berries are separated by pa.ssing the whole through 

 a winnowing mill. This process leaves the fruit in 

 the best possible condition preparatory to manufactur- 

 ing the oil — ^ydjieij Mail. 



TEA: IN'DIA, CEYLON, JAVA, JOHORE, NATAL. 



{Geo. White ^ Co.'s Annual Indian, Ct^Jm and 

 Java Tea Report.) 



London, 2, Great Tower Strkft, E.G., 



18th March, 1887. 



Olosk of Last Se.\son. — Our last Amuial Report 



was issued on the 20th March, 1886, when, with 



decrftasing (ju an titles offered at auction, the market 



was gradualVy assuming a tinner tone for fine kinds, 



