OLIVE -GROWING 329 



THE OLIVE 



Although olive trees thrive best on a warm, rich and 

 well -drained soil, they may be grown with success on 

 dry, rocky hillsides. The greater part of southern and 

 central California is adapted to the culture of this fruit. 

 While the mean annual temperature should not be lower 

 than sixty degrees, the olive can be grown with success 

 even though the mercury may fall to fifteen degrees, 

 provided the average temperature for the coldest month 

 is at least forty degrees. 



The trees can be grown from seeds, if the pulp is first 

 removed and the seeds freed from oil by soaking them 

 in lye. They may also be readily propagated from either 

 long or short half-hard cuttings, or by budding or graft- 

 ing. The trees are planted from twenty to twenty -five 

 feet apart each way, and on account of their drooping 

 habit they should be trained with a moderately high 

 trunk, with a center stem. The side shoots should be 

 headed-back and the drooping branches removed. 



Olives ripen during the winter, and should be gathered 

 as soon as they turn purple. If to be used for oil, the 

 fruit is first partially dried and then placed in masonry 

 vats, where it is crushed with stone or iron rollers. The 

 oil is then pressed out, poured into tanks or vats for 

 settling, and then, after being filtered through several 

 thicknesses of cotton batting or felt, is put into bottles. 



If for pickling, care should be taken to handle the fruit 

 when gathering it so that it will not be bruised. It 

 should be poured into tubs of water, which should be 

 changed daily for a month or so. The olives are then 

 placed in weak brine, and after three or four days are 

 changed into brine that will bear an egg, and in this 

 can be kept indefinitely. Instead of going to the trouble 

 of repeatedly changing the water, the same results can 

 be secured, i. e., the removal of the bitter taste, if the 



