414 THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 



THE SELECTION, PLANTING AND CARE OF AN OLIVE 

 ORCHARD IN CALIFORNIA.* 



By W. F. Oglesbt, University of California. 

 NATURAL REQUIREMENTS. 



Climate. — Certain climatic conditions are required for the success- 

 ful growing of olives on a commercial scale. Frosts should not occur 

 later than the first of April nor earlier in the fall than the first of 

 December. The mean temperature between the blossoming period, 

 which should occur some time between the first of May and the first of 

 June, and the ripening time, which wdll occur some time between the 

 first of October and the first of December, should be at least 68 degrees. 

 Where fall or winter frosts do not occur, the average mean temperature 

 may be somewhat less, as this allows a longer time for the fruit to 

 mature. Trees may be grown for ornamental purposes in much colder 

 places than will admit of the production of fruit and should be planted 

 for this purpose far more extensively, as the tree is a healthy and 

 fairly vigorous grower and one of our finest ornamental trees. 



Soil.— The olive tree will grow in almost any kind of well-drained 

 soil, but if orchards are planted for profit leachy soils should be 

 avoided. The ideal soil is a deep, rich, sandy loam, having a high 

 lime content. Olive trees seem to do remarkably well in the red, foot- 

 hill soils of the Sierra Range. The shallow soils here, as elsewhere, 

 should be avoided, for while apparently successful orchards are now 

 producing good crops on shallow soils in many places, the question of 

 fertilization has already become a rather serious problem. Three feet 

 of soil is a safe minimum. Shallow soils require a greater number of 

 irrigations and more frequent cultivation, and larger and more constant 

 applications of fertilizers after the trees come into full bearing ; and as 

 there are so many thousand acres of good, fairly deep soils that may be 

 planted to olives, groves planted on very shallow soils would be at a 

 disadvantage and would probably prove unsatisfactory. 



Water. — No one should contemplate planting an olive orchard for 

 commercial purposes where sufficient water may not be secured for irri- 

 gation purposes, as it has been fairly demonstrated that the unirrigated 

 olive orchard can not compete successfully with orchards that are 

 irrigated. 



SELECTION OF SITE. 



For its Desirability as a Home. — While a few^ people may plant 

 orchards as speculations, not expecting to live on their tracts, the vast 

 majority of plantings of this kind has so far proven a failure and must 

 continue to do so, because of the many limiting factors. It is, there- 

 fore, very desirable that in selecting a place to plant an orchard we 

 should consider it from the standpoint of its desirability as a home, 

 noting its accessibility to market, the healthfulness of the location, the 

 distance to schools, churches and other social centers. The possible 

 congeniality of neighbors, the existence of good roads or the possibility 



♦Address before the State Fruit Growers' Convention, Palo Alto, Cal., July, 1915. 



