July i, 1884.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



75 



very bad quality, being nauseous in taste and somewhat 

 thick and viscous. Frost following immediately on a fall 

 of snow or sleet, when the trees are still wet, v, ill irretriev- 

 ably damage the fruit, causing it t'> shrived up and greatly 



diminishing the j - while the oil itself has a dark 



colour, and loses its delicate' flavour. 



The olive tree in Tuscany generally blossoms in April. 

 By November the frail has attained its full size, though not 

 full maturity, and tlie olive harvest generally commences 

 then. The fruit, generally speaking, is gathered as it falls 

 to the ground, either from ripen* BS or in windy weather. In 

 some districts, however, and when the crop is short, the 

 practice is to strip the fruit from the trees early in the 

 season. When there is a full crop the harvest lasts many 

 months, and may not be finished till the end of May, as the 

 fruit do. no! ill ripen simultaneously. Oil made early in 

 the season has a deeper colour, and is distinguished by a 

 fruity flavour, with a certain degree of pungency ; while as the 

 season advances it becomes lighter in colour, thinner in 

 body, aud milder aud sweeter in taste. Oil made towards 

 the close of the harvest in April or May from extremely ripe 

 fruit is of a very pale straw colour, mild and sweet to the 

 taste, though sometimes, if the fruit has remained too long 

 on the trees, it may be slightly rancid. Oil very light in 

 colour is much prized in certain countries, notably France; 

 aud hence, if it also possesses good quality, commands a 

 higher price in the Tuscau markets. 



The fruit of the olive tree varies just as much in quality 

 as does the grape, according to the specses of the tree it- 

 self, the nature of the soil, exposure, and climate of the 

 locality where it grows. Some varieties of the olive tree 

 largely grown, because thought to be better suited to the 

 special conditions of some districts, yield a fruit which im- 

 parts a bitter taste to the oil made from it; such oii, even 

 when otherwise perfect, ranks as a second rate quality. 

 The highest quality of oil can only be obtained when the 

 fruit is perfectly and uniformly sound, well ripened, 

 gathered as soon as it has dropped from the trees, and crushed 

 immediately with great attention. Should the fruit remain 

 any time on the ground, particularly during wet weather, it 

 deteriorates fast and gets an earthy taste; while if allowed 

 to remain an undue- length of time in the garners it heats, 

 begins to decern] ose, and will yield only bad oil. 



The process of making oil is as follows: — The fruit is 

 crushed in a stone mill, generally moved by water power; 

 the pulp is then put into bags made of fibre, and a certain 

 number of these bags, piled one upon another, are placed 

 in a press, most frequently worked by hand; when press- 

 ure is applied, the oU flows down into a channel by which 

 it is conveyed to a receptacle or tank. \Vhen oil ceases 

 to flow, tepid water is poured upon the bags to carry off 

 oil retained by the bags. The pulp is then removed from 

 the bags, ground again in the mill, then replaced in the 

 bags aud pressed a second time. The water used in the 

 process of making oil must be quite pure; the mill, press, 

 bags, and vessels sweet and clean, as the hast taint would 

 ruin the quality of the oil produced. Tie oil which has 

 collected in the tank or receptacle .just mentioned is re- 

 moved day by day, and the water also drained off, as oil 

 would suffer in quality if left in contact with water; the 

 water also, which necessarily contains some oil mingled with 

 it. is sent to a deposit outside, and al some distance from 

 the crushing house, which is called the "Inferno," where 

 it is allowed to accumulate, and the oil which comes to the 

 surface is skimmed off from time to time. It is fit only 

 for manufacturing purposes. After the si i on I pri ssing the 

 olive-pulp is not yet done with ; it is beaten up with water 

 by mechanical agitators moved by water-power, and then the 

 whole discharged into open-air tanks adjoining the crushing- 

 house. There the crushed olive kernels sink to thehott i 

 gathered up and sold for fuel, fetching about 12 franc - ] . r 



II kilos., while the debris of the pulp is skimmed off the 



surface of the tank and again pressed in bags, yielding a 

 considerable quantity of inferior oil. called "Olio lavato." 

 or washed oil, which, if freshly made, is oven used for fowl 

 by the poorer classes. The pulp then remaining has still 

 a further use. It is sold for treatment in factories by the 

 sulphide of carbon process, and by this nrethod yields from 

 7 to 9 per cent of oil; of course suitable only for manu- 

 facturing purposes. Only the first two pressings yield oil 

 which rauks as first quality, subject of course to the con- 

 dition of the fruit being unexceptionable. New oil is allowed 



to rest awhile in order to get rid of sediment: it is then 

 clarified by passing through clean cotton wool, when it is 

 fit for use. 



The highest quality of olive oil lor eating purposes should 

 not only be free from the least taint in taste or smell, but 

 prx tizing flavour. When so many 

 favourable conditions are ni eded as to growth, maturity and 

 soundness of the fruit, coupled w ith great attention during 

 the process of oil-malting, it is not to be wondered at that by 

 no means all. or even the greater part of the orl produced 

 in the most favoured districts of Tuscany, is of the highest 

 quality. On the contrary, the bulk is inferior and di I 

 Th' se defective oils are largely dealt in, both for hone 

 sumption and export, win n price and not quality is the object. 



In foreign countries there is always a market for inferior 

 defective olive oil for cooking purposes, etc., provided the 

 price be low. Trice and not quality is the object, so much so 

 that when olive oil is dear, cotton-seed, ground-nut and 

 other oils are substituted, which bear the same relation 

 to good olive oil that butterine and similar preparations 

 do to real butter. 



The very choicest qualities of pure olive oil are largely 

 shipped from Leghorn to England along with the very 

 lowest qualities, often also adulterated. 



The oil put into Florence flasks is of the latter kind. 

 Many years back this was not the case, but now it is a re- 

 cognized fact that nothing but the lowest quality of oil is 

 put into these flasks; oil utterly unfit for food, and so bad 

 that it is a mystery to what use it is applied in England. 

 Importers in England of oil in these flask6 care nothing. 

 however, about quality; cheapness is the only desideratum. 



The best quality of Tuscau olive oil is imported in London 

 in casks, bottled there, and bears the Lame of the importers 

 alone on the label. There is no difficulty in procuring in 

 England the be6t Tuscan oil, which nothing produced else- 

 where can surpass ; but consumers who wish to get, and are 

 willingly to pay for the best article, must look to the name 

 and reputation of the importers and the general ex- 

 cellence of all the articles they sell, which is the best 

 guarantee they can have of quality. — Vhurmaceulical Jouriud. 



TAPER-MAKING MATERIALS. 



The attention that has been given of late years to the 

 very important question of the paper supply lias resulted 

 in the more general utilisation of many products that were 

 but a few years ago scarcely known. The threatened ex- 

 haustion of the Esparto supply went a considerable way 

 to turn the attention of paper-makers to other sources of 

 material, and fresh substances are now freauently brought 

 to notice, the young shoots of the Bamboo being amongst 

 the most lecent. The essential for a good paper is a sub- 

 stance that will pulp well, aud at the same time pi 

 a fibre sufficient y tenacious to strengthen the paper when 

 finished; thus, the well-known Indian papers made from 

 the tough, fibrous barks of Daphne papyracea aud D. can- 

 nabina are celebrated for their great sti eugth ; and again 

 the Japanese papers made from the inner barks of Brous- 

 sonetia papyiifera aud B. Krempieri are sometimes made 

 as thin as gauze, and yet on account of the interlacing 

 fibres they possess considerable strength. Everybody knows 

 how multitudinous and varied are the uses to which the 

 Japanese apply paper. It is then to some of these well- 

 known foreign sources of paper material, the suitability 

 of which is abundantly proved, that we ought to look 

 for some of our future supplies. It is not impossible per- 

 haps to export the material in the form of paper stock 

 or half-stuff, and w.e might perchance get this either from 

 the Indian Daphne or the Fijian or Japanese Broussonetias ; 

 besides which, the plants themselves might be introduced 

 into some of our colonial possessions, aud grown for the 

 sake of their fibrous bark ; indeed, this would seem to have 

 been already begun by Dr. King in the Botanic Garden, 

 Calcutta ; for in his last report on the6e gardens he says, 

 •'The Taper Mulberry (Broussouetia papyriferai grows won- 

 derfully well, aud I am trying to obtain the seed in large 

 quantity from Europe so as to be able to spread its cultiv- 

 ation in India." '1 his. then, would seem to be a new branch 

 of culture well worth consideration and experiment by 

 planters in various parts of the world, for the trees might 

 even be planted on the boundaries of plantations or as - 

 trees. 



