OLD IRONSIDES 



4368 



OLEOMARGARINE 



all began to view with more interest their pro- 

 prietorship in their town hall, their lyceuin, 

 their school of science and art, and especially 

 their Alexandra Park covering seventy-two 

 acre^. Population, 1911, 147,480. 



OLD IRONSIDES. See CONSTITUTION, THE. 



OLD POINT COMFORT, VA., a popular sea- 

 side village, situated on a small peninsula at 

 the mouth of the James River, about fourteen 

 miles north of Norfolk. It lies at the point 

 where Hampton Roads and Chesapeake Hay 

 join the Atlantic Ocean a site of unusual 

 beauty. Excellent facilities for bathing, fishing 

 and boating, an equable climate and beautiful 

 scenery combine to make it an attractive re- 

 sort. Fort Monroe is in the vicinity and adds 

 to the attractions of the village. It was almost 

 completely destroyed by fire in 1862, but was 

 rebuilt after the War of Secession. Transpor- 

 tation is provided by the New York, Philadel- 

 phia & Norfolk and the Chesapeake & Ohio 

 railways, and by steamers. 



OLD RED SANDSTONE, an extensive sys- 

 tem of rocks found in Scotland and Wales, 

 formed during the Devonian Period, for which 

 reason they are now called the Devonian sys- 

 tem. The red sandstone is the most extensive 

 and from this the system was named. In some 

 places the system is from 16,000 to 20,000 feet 

 thick. The rocks contain many fossils and 

 are of great interest to geologists. Years ago 

 the system was made famous by the geologist 

 Hugh Miller, in his books The Old Red Sand- 

 stone and Footprints of the Creator. See DE- 

 VONIAN PERIOD. 



OLD SOUTH MEETING-HOUSE. See page 

 847. 



OLEAN, olean', N. Y., the county seat of 

 Cattaraugus County, situated in the western 

 part of the state, five miles north of the Penn- 

 sylvania Mate lino and seventy-one miles south- 

 east of Buffalo. It is on the Allegheny River 

 and on the Erie, the Pennsylvania and the 

 Pittsburgh, Shawmut & Northern railroads. 

 The population was 14,743 in 1910; it had in- 

 creased to 17,925 in 1915, according to the state 

 census. The area exceeds five square miles. 



Olean has several attract ive parks a Federal 

 building which cost 875,000, a Carnegie Library, 

 a Y. M. C. A. building, a state armory and 

 Higgins Memorial Hospital. On the fair 

 grounds race track some noted races have been 

 run. Industrially, Olean is chiefly notable for 

 oil-storage tanks which have a capacity of 

 10,000,000 barrels. Several pipe lines from the 

 Pennsylvania fields terminate here. Other 



prominent industrial establishments include oil 

 refineries, the Pennsylvania railroad shops, 

 which employ 1,000 men, tanneries, machine 

 shops and manufactories of glass, cutlery, wag- 

 ons and pipes. Olean was settled in 1804 and 

 became a city in 1893. M.E.B. 



OLEANDER, olcan'der, a flowering ever- 

 green shrub, widely known as a winter house 

 plant and ah outdoor ornament in summer. It 

 grows to a height of eight or ten feet. The 

 leaves are lance-shaped and leathery, and they 

 grow opposite each other on the stem. The 

 flowers are roselike and showy, usually of a 

 beautiful red hue, but sometimes white or 

 streaked in color. One species bears blossoms 

 which are sweetly fragrant. An objection to 

 the oleander is that all parts of the plant are 

 poisonous. The native home of the oleander is 

 in Western Asia, where its showy blossoms 

 brighten the landscape. It is easily raised 

 from cuttings, which if placed in bottles of 

 water will form roots in a few weeks. They 

 must then be transplanted to moist, rich soil. 



OLEOMARGARINE , oleo mahr ' ga reen, a 

 manufactured substitute for butter. The essen- 

 tial ingredients are neutral lard (pure, refined 

 lard of good quality, from which practically all 

 of the free acid has been separated), beef fat 

 of various kinds (from which oleo oil is ob- 

 tained), and vegetable oils, such as cottonseed 

 or palm oil. In addition, annatto, yellow coal 

 tar dye or other coloring matters are added to 

 give the product the appearance of genuine 

 butter. It is also customary to treat oleomar- 

 garine with a small amount of butter or to 

 churn it in milk or cream or both, in order to 

 impart to it the real butter flavor. 



A good grade of this substitute compares fa- 

 vorably with high grade butter in nutritive 

 value, taste and purity, and it is difficult at 

 sight to distinguish between the two. A simple 

 boiling test will enable one to identify them. 

 Place a small quantity in a tablespoon and hold 

 it over a gas jet or over a lamp chimney. Let 

 it come to a boil, stirring thoroughly two or 

 three times during the boiling. If the sample 

 is oleomargarine it will boil noisily and sput- 

 ter, but show little or no foam; genuine butter, 

 on the other hand, will boil with much less 

 noise and produce a great deal of foam. 



In order to prevent the marketing of oleo- 

 margarine as genuine butter, the United States 

 government levies a tax of ten cents on every 

 pound which is artificially colored to look like 

 butter, and a tax of one-fourth of a cent a 

 pound on the product when not so colored. 



