CHAPTER XXXII 



THE OLIVE 4 



The olive is another of the old mission fruits, and though the tree 

 and its products have been constantly under discussion since the 

 American occupation, and though experimentation has been con- 

 stant, it was not until 1885 that the tide of popular favor turned 

 strongly toward the olive. For twelve years thereafter planting 

 proceeded with enthusiasm amounting almost to infatuation, until 

 the acreage in olives before 1900 reached such a figure that even 

 the most enthusiastic ceased from further planting, because the 

 future of the products of the olive was by no means clear. The 

 competition of olive oil with cheaper salad oils worked greatly to 

 the disadvantage of the higher-priced article, and though pure-food 

 legislation declared that cheaper oils can no longer be sold under 

 the name of the olive, substitutes, under their own picturesque 

 names, have become popular. 



The difficulty of producing pickled ripe olives with good keep- 

 ing qualities was proven to be vastly greater than anticipated, and 

 canning was finally resorted to. It is probable that during the first 

 decade of this century the uprooting of trees far exceeded the 

 planting and the olive acreage decreased considerably. At the same 

 time there was much progress attained in the building and equip- 

 ment of oil mills and pickling establishments, and in mastery of 

 processes which yield acceptable products all of which have favor- 

 ably influenced the demand and price of the fresh fruit. The fact 

 is, the olive has, for several decades, been boomed in California 

 along spectacular and speculative lines, and the industry had to 

 outlive the mistakes which were made. 



During the war the price for good pickling olives ranged from 

 $140 to $160 per ton, while fancy fruit reached $200 and upwards. 

 Such prices were never previously attained and even one-half of 

 these values would be profitable, if labor were reasonably available 

 and the trees were fairly productive. These are the ruling factors 

 in the business, and will maintain the olive industry in spite of set- 

 backs like that which was encountered in 1920 through lack of 

 adequate sterilization in canning processes and which cast a deep 

 shadow upon production and planting. 



The olive tree has survived a temperature of 14 degrees Fahren- 

 heit in California, but the fruit is injured by a slight fall below the 

 freezing point. This may render unprofitable the late varieties 

 which carry their fruit-ripening into the winter months. 



The olive tree will thrive throughout the larger part of Cali- 

 fornia, and it has been shown that it will grow in a soil too dry 

 even for the grape-vine, and too rocky for any other fruit tree, but 

 the growth of the tree and the bearing of fruit will be proportional 



