220 American Horticultural Sot-idy. 



when the ground is warm and suffi'.'ienlly dry, all sprouts, excepting the one 

 to be preserved, should be carefully removed. In pruning during the first 

 years have only one object in view, that is, to force all growth into one 

 main trunk. This being done, the tree will naturally form a beautiful 

 shape. All branches to the height of five to five and a half feet should be 

 removed, so as to admit of close cultivation by horses. 



Trees grown from cuttings will profluce fruit the fourth year, and some- 

 times, under favorable circumstances, a few berries the third year. The 

 habit (^f the tree is to overbear, and as a con.->eqnence will give but little fruit 

 the year following a heavy croj). There are, however, exceptions to this rule 

 in California. Mr. Davis, who had charge of the San Diego Mission orchard 

 in IS?'"), assured me that he had gathered from the same tree two years in 

 succession over 1 ")0 gallons of berries. I have also observed that some trees 

 in my orchard have borne well successive years. Fruit-bearing can be con- 

 trolled by proper pruning. The cultivator will not forget that the shoots 

 or branches must be two years old before they will give fruit; hence, partial 

 pruning every year will give p irtial crops. My oldest orchard was planted 

 February 21, 1S72. At four years I gatfiered from some trees over two gal- 

 lons of berries, and in 1878 over thirty gallons each ofT of a few of the best 

 trees. The tree mentioned in the San Diego Mission orchard as yielding 

 150 gallons of berries was more than fifty feet distant from those surround- 

 ing it. Our climate is congenial to the olive; it bloonis from the 1st t(j the 

 10th of May. At this season we have our best weather, free from the ex- 

 tremes of either heat or cold. Nowhere in the world are all the conditions 

 so favorable to perfect fruit-bearing. 



The olive usually ripens in November. In Santa B.irbara the crop of 

 1880, as also that of 1S78, 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 rain-fall of these two years. The fruit 

 should be gathered as soon as it turns purple, and before fully ripe, as the 

 oil will be lighter in color 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. This plan has serious objections; the fruit being 

 more or less brtiised causes decomposition, and the contact with the earth is 

 liable.to give the oil an impleasant taste and odor. I have arranged on a wagon 

 platforms, with ladders securely fastened, so that the fruit can be gathered 

 from the wagon, which is driven along the rows. Leaves and imperfect ber- 

 ries are separated by passing the fruit through a winnowing mill. This proc- 

 ess leaves the fruit in the best possible condition for manufacturing the 

 oil. The berries are dried before crushing. If, however, they are left on 

 the trees until shriveled, no drying is needed after picking. By artificial 

 heat the necessary drying can be done in less than forty-eight hours. 

 Crushing and j)ressing should follow without ilelay — that is, the fruit taken 

 from the drier in the morning should be crushed and pres.><ed the same day. 

 All fruit picked during the day should be in at night, cleaned the following 



