POPULAR VARIETIES OF THE OLIVE 349 



experts, and of these about fifteen varieties at first promised to rise to 

 commercial account but many of them have been dropped. It is an 

 interesting fact, however, that in spite of all the efforts put forth to 

 secure a better olive than the old Mission variety, this old sort still 

 heads the list. Several varieties at first popular have been abandoned 

 because of an interior decay of the pulp. 



The following are the varieties now favored in California on a 

 commercial scale, arranged approximately in the order of their present 

 popularity : Mission ; Manzanillo ; Ascolano ; Sevillano ; Nevadillo. 



Other varieties sometimes used for pickling are : Oblitza ; Macro- 

 carpa ; Picholine ; Columbella ; Regalia ; Goodal ; Atro-rubens ; Verdale ; 

 Santa Caterina. 



These may be taken, then, as practically all the varieties to which 

 planters are giving attention. Of course future experience may pro- 

 duce changes in this list, but there is little present indication that it will 

 be much enlarged. Descriptions of many other varieties are retained, 

 largely for old acquaintance sake : 



The Mission Olive. By this name is signified the variety found growing at 

 the old missions in California. Samples of the fruit and leaves sent by F. Pohn- 

 dorff to Don Jose de Hidalgo Toblada, a noted Spanish authority on the olive, 

 led to the classing of our mission varieties with the Cornicabra-Cornizuelo 

 varieties of Spain, and its value was confirmed. It has long been known that the 

 s>called Mission olive embraced several varieties, or sub-varieties at least. 



Common or Broad-Leaved Mission Olive. The variety of olive most generally 

 known as the Mission; ovate, oblique sometimes very much so the pit straight 

 or slightly curved, fruit very variable in size, growing singly or in clusters of two 

 or three, or even five ; time of ripening, late, in the coast region sometimes not 

 before February, but generally in December; in warm localities in November; 

 tree vigorous and a good bearer, preferred by picklers. 



Redding Picholine. Imported by the late B. B. Redding. A perfect oval in 

 shape, ripens early, several weeks earlier than the common Mission ; dark purple 

 or black when ripe; in pickling the pulp loses the bitterness quickly, the fruit 

 beinsr very pleasant. This variety was propagated extensively, in the State and, 

 until fruiting was supposed to be a large pickling variety, but it proved to be a 

 small seedling a shoot coming from the root below the graft, probably. It has 

 produced oil of good quality. The smallness of the fruit is its irremediable 

 defect. It roots very readily from cuttings and is used as a stock on which to 

 graft improved varieties. 



Picholine d'Aix. Fruit medium, enlongated, tapering toward apex which is 

 pointed; reddish black when ripe. 



Picholine de Stt. Chamas. Oblong, reddish black ; highly esteemed in France 

 for quality when picked. 



Oblonga. Imported by John Rock from France. An olive of a peculiar, 

 club-like shape, being narrow at the stem end, broad at the point, rounded and 

 strongly oblique; generally pointed at both ends. The pulp loses its bitterness 

 comparatively quickly in picking. This olive ripens quite early at least two or 

 three weeks earlier than the Broad-leaved Mission; color, dark purple. 



Pendoulier. Large, oval, slightly curved at apex end; desirable for pickling 

 early ripening in October in the interior valley and in November in coast 

 valleys. 



Manzanillo No. I. Imported by F. Pohndorff from Spain, large regular 

 rounded oval ; pit straight, strongly pointed at the apex, nine-sixteenths of an 

 inch long, five-sixteenths of an inch thick. Ripens early, several weeks' earlier 

 than the Broad-leaved Mission. The fruit grows on long stems. The pulo parts 

 readily with its bitterness, and. is exceedingly rich when pickled. Excellent in 

 the San Joaquin Valley both for oil and pickles. 



