March /, iS86.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



6<5i 



Crd.— Be«t sugai- must be soUl as iiiatle, and is often 

 forced on the market at unfavourable times, because 

 it suffers heavily from increase of glueose if stored. 

 and a heavy penalty is enacted for delivery of any 

 but fresh-njanufaotured beet-crystals. In Paris, at 

 present, beet crystals of old crop are aliuost un- 

 saleable. 



■Weighing all these pros, and cons., it is evident 

 that the two industries are very evculy balanced, 

 and that those of the sugar ciine planters who are 

 in a position to avail themselves of the very best 

 appliances in maniifacture nii{;ht, under improved 

 conditions of labour, look t'orwartl to tinii's when 

 they would hold their own aganist their formidable 

 rival. One thing is evident, aud that is, that strict 

 economy must be practised in our colonies. The days 

 when sugar at £25 to £30 could stand the enormous 

 public expenditure which characterised some of our 

 leading M'est Indian Colonies are pa.st, and both 

 governors aud governed must be prepared to reduce 

 taxes and e-xpenses to the extent reciuire<l for pro- 

 ducing sugar at oae-third less cost than hitherto.^ 

 Sxtgar CaiK. 



♦ ■ 



THE OLIVE AND ITS OIL. 



IIV IIIOS. WILSON, U. S. CaNSUl, AT NICK. 



The olire tree is of the highest antiquity. It 

 appears on the earliest page of written history in 

 the leaf which the dove brought to Noah in the 

 ark as evidence of the receding waters. 



It held the highest rank in the ancient mythology. 

 Minerva taught the Athenians its uses. The peoples 

 of antiquity held it in great respect, and used its 

 oil in their various religious ceremonies. It was at 

 once the emblem of holiness and peace. The Romans 

 refused to burn the wood, even on their altars. 



The olive wa.s brought from Egypt to (ircece, and 

 from thence spread over the countries where it is 

 now grown. 



It flourishes best in the basin of the Mediterranean 

 Sea. between 35 and 43' north latitude, though this, 

 as I have stated, will, owing to the difference of 

 temperature on the same parallel, be but an uncertain 

 guide in the United States. The oil produced on the 

 .African shore of the Mediterranean is inferior to that 

 of the north shore. 



Some of the islands of the f Grecian Archipelago 

 and the Adriatic produce fine oil, but the centre, 

 both for quantity aud quality, so far at least as 

 concerns commerce, is at Nice and the surrounding 

 country. From St. Tropez to .Savone generally, but 

 chiefly from the Var to the Koya. from Cannes to 

 N'intemilli, the best oil is produced. 



Here the trees have been indigenous siuce before 

 the Christian era, and here they grow to the largest 

 size and the greatest age. One at Beaulieu, in full 

 vigor and bearing, twenty-two feet in circumference, 

 and is siipjwsed to be seven hundred or more years 

 old. 



The slower the fruit ripens the better oil it makes, 

 but as it must be fully ripe aud entirely free from 

 blemish to make the choicest oil, aud as it requires j 

 two years to come to perfection (the crop is only ' 

 biennial', one can easily comprehi-nd the dangers of 

 climate, season, malady aud accident which must be 

 avoided, and the difSculties which must be overcome , 

 in order to obtain final success. ! 



To accomplish this with a plant so tender requires | 

 a climate aiul situation of peculiar adaptation, and 

 imless this is secured ony attempt at its cultivation 

 will be fruitless. The fruit freezes at 23' I'', and the 

 tree 10 . Once frozen, no remedy exists; the tree 

 is destroyed, and must be cut down. 



It speak.s volumes for the climate of this region 

 to say that the olive trees have grown successfully 

 for the centuries I have indicated. 



If the weather be too warm and the land too rich, 

 the fruit ripens too fast, and its good taste is gone. 

 If, on the other liand, it should become too cold, 

 fruit and tree are both de.itroyed. Possibly I can do 

 no better than answer the question propounded in 

 the circular to which this is a response. 



There are sixteen or seveutecu different kiuds, each 

 with its DbtiUiical name, which have been grown in 

 this region, but nearly all as exotics. The tree in 

 common use, is the Kuropcan olive, aud all the nii'jrm- 

 atiou given cuuccrus this. It gi\cs the best oil. 

 The tree begins to bear fruit at ten years of age, 

 ' but it does not come to maturity until from thirty 

 to fifty years. 



i'ov the olives of commerce — that is, to eat, (ither 

 fresh or pickled — the young tree produces the best 

 I result ; the mature trees produce the best oil. 



The reproduction of the olive tree may be accom- 

 plished by all the modes known for trees. The be.st 

 i mode — planting the seed or pit — is practiceil here at 

 least. The people prefer planting the sprouts which 

 come up from the roots of the tree, or which may 

 be artificially made by bending a twig aud covering 

 it with earth until it has taken root. At the age 

 of two years this stock may be grafted, or the operation 

 is more like that of " buddiug. " The graft is cut 

 i all on one side and iutroduced under the bark, then 

 bound up in moist earth aud allowed to grow. The 

 stock above the graft is cut off. 



The earth around and between the trees is tilled 

 each year, and a crop, sometimes of wheat or beans 

 alternately, planted in the spring and gathered iu 

 the autumn. The earth is manured every two years, 

 and the trees are pruned every four years. 



It is the same tree and the same fruit for oil as 

 for commerce. But the best olives for commerce 

 grow on the young trees; they are larger ard plumper, 

 and by selecting the fruit they obtain the finest 

 quality, which arc then perserved for commerce. 

 There' is a species grown at Nice for which is claimed 

 a superiority of taste and fragrance. It is disiiuguished 

 by a small black spot on the blossom enil of the 

 fruit. These olives arc eaten in the country when 

 ripe, are semi-dried and slightly seasoned with salt. 

 Times <ik Fruit Gathering.— The trees begin to 

 bear at ten years of .^ge, but they do not reach 

 their full cai>ability or maturity until from thirty to 

 fifty years. They continue fruitful for two and a 

 half or three centuries. This is for grafted fruit. The 

 wild olive lives and bears until twice that age. In 

 Provence and other countries not so well adapted to 

 them, they commence earlier and also die earlier. 

 The trees are smaller, ami the fruit can be picked 

 by h,and. There the crop is annual, the harvest being 

 in Novenibf-r and December, while iu Niee and sur- 

 rounding country the harvest is biennial. Here the 

 blossom or flower comes in April or Way, and the 

 first fruit, consisting of the .smaller and inferior, is 

 gathered iu November and December, the better in 

 January and February and March, while the best 

 (for oil) is the last, iu April .and M.ay. It produces 

 the be.st oil when it ripens slowly, and, iu some 

 exceptionally good years, the harvest is continued 

 into June and even .Tuly. The tree then recuperates 

 until the following spring, when it flowers again. 

 An olive tree, ewn here, would bear a crop each 

 year if so permitted, but the "whipping" ncce.s.sary 

 to gather in the fruit destroys the blossoms, which 

 do not como agaiu until the next spring. 



The trees are planted from each other at a distance 

 \arying from 10 to 1-3 yards each way. The larger 

 trees require larger space, and the larger the trees 

 produced. The trees need sun anil air, aud if crowded 

 it will be to their detriment. This would permit, 

 if I have figured aright, 40 to 50 trees to one acre. 

 But they ilo not calculate by the acre, for the trees 

 are planted on the hill-side, u.sually on made terraces 

 impossilile to plow, cultivated with the spade, and it 

 is difficult to get an acre of olive trees together. 

 In poorer soil aud on the hillside the trees may be 

 a lesser distance apart, even reducing it to six or 

 eight yards. 



The difference between olive trees in their product 

 is as great as between apple trees. But the average 

 production per tree, biennially, may be stated thus : — 

 In fruit, from 00 to 120 liters; iu oil, from 8 to 12 

 kilograms, or 12 to 18 liters, 



