California Agriculturist and Live Stock Journal. 



The reason why it is looked upon with so 

 nmch repugnance by our people is that we 

 Tery seldom see a fresh article. When it 

 reaches us it is generally old and strong, and 

 consequently unpalatable. There is as much 

 difference between the freshly pressed oil, 

 which has a sweet, nutty flavor, and that 

 which we see geuerally in our market, as 

 there is between nice, new-made butter, just 

 from the churn, and the strong, rancid article 

 "old enough to speak for itself." Hence, to 

 popularize its use, it must be raised in our 

 own country, when a healthy and valuable 

 article of food will be added to our produc- 

 tions. We cannot have too many food pro- 

 ducts. ** We know not what a day may bring 

 forth." A nation, to be truly independent, 

 must not only be so politically, but gastro- 

 iiomically. Full stomachs are deadly foes to 

 bread riots. 



France lost nearly all her olive trees from 

 cold in the years 170U and 178H. The frosts 

 of that country sometimes kill the extremities 

 of the the bearing limbs, thus cutting off the 

 crop entirely for that year or very much di- 

 minishing it. Neither of these accidents have 

 ever been known to happen here, so that, 

 with full crops every year at a fair remuner- 

 ation, that ijrofit would be greatly enhanced 

 in cases of partial or total failure of crops in 

 Europe. Prior to the disastrous year of 1788 

 France consumed $15,00(),U0U worth of oil, 

 yet was compelled to import $6,U0(),0U(I more 

 to supply her home demand. England im- 

 ported, in the year 1830, 2,791,0.57 g.illons. 

 In 1850 the United States imported !f91,600 

 worth; in 1855, $1(;5,173, and in 1859 $535,- 

 975. Some idea may be formed of its com- 

 mercial value when it is knowu^that the little 

 kingdom of Naples exports annually 7,300,000 

 gallons. Now, as the olive is a sea-side tree 

 and grows to absolute perfection in all our 

 southern coast counties, a very short calcula- 

 tion would go to show that, with a little fore- 

 sight and industry, California would soon 

 become the oil mart of the world, as Italy is 

 to-day; for each one of our coast counties 

 would make, perhaps, half a dozen Napleses. 

 And this need not be at the expense of the 

 rich wheat laud of our valleys, for the olive 

 is known to flourish equally well, if not bet- 

 ter, on rolling, rocky lands, of which we have 

 millions of acres in our foot-hills that could 

 not be applied to a better purjjose. And when 

 these acres shall have been covered all over 

 with olive trees, in full bearing, the question 

 as to "what shall we do with our boys and 

 girls?" will be of easy solution in the short 

 and appropriate answer "Set them to picking 

 olives." 



The olive tree is of extraordinary longevity. 

 Some are known to be 400, others 7U0 years 

 old at the present time, and bid fair to flour- 

 ish for many centuries yet to come. There 

 are some in Italy which are supposed to have 

 been in existence since the time of Pliny. 

 Others still linger about the Mount of Olives, 

 but whether they ever extended their shelter- 

 ing boughs over the kneeling Savior, history, 

 perhaps, will ever be silent. 



Its timber constitutes one of the most valu- 

 able of woods. It takes a high pohsh, and 

 is greatly prized by cabinet-makers. It is 

 used extensively in in-laying with other valu- 

 able woods. The wood of the root, when 

 polished, presents a marbled appearance, and 

 is used for making snuff-boxes, dressing cases 

 and other ornamental articles. 



Dried, pickled and preserved olives are 

 used as food. 



The bark and leaves are used in medicine as 

 astringents, tonics and febrifuges. 



The gum i*siu which exudes from the trees 

 is used in perfumery. 



The oil makes very superior castile and 

 toilet soaps. 



It forms an important ingredient in hair- 

 oils, cosmetics, plasters and ointments. 



Large quantities of it are used in woolen 

 mills in dressing cloth. 



Before the discovery of petroleum, it was 



universally used for illuminating purposes. 



Jewelers use the finest of the oil in lubri- 

 cating their watch and clock works. 



Mixed half and half --i'lth lime water, it 

 forms one of the best applications for burns 

 and scalds. Every family should keep a bot- 

 tle of this mixture on hand in case of emer- 

 gency. 



Rubbed all over the body, it is said to have 

 afforded protection from the plague; but 

 whether this be true or not, its external use is 

 growing rapidly in favor with the regular 

 profession in diseases of the chest, bowels and 

 joints. Extreme unction, as it might be 

 called in these cases, has been known to act 

 like a charm in the last stage of croup, when 

 everything else had failed to afford relief. 



It is a valuable antidote to a great many 

 poisons, and is believed to act efBciently in 

 this way in poisonous doses of strychnine. 



With so many uses for it already, and when 

 we manufacture a sweet home article to be 

 universally used in our culinary preparations 

 as it is used in Europe, there is not much 

 danger of our over stocking the market with 

 oil, at least for several centuries to come. 



There are different varieties of the olive, as 

 there are of the api^le and pear. These are 

 perpetuated by cuttings, grafts or buds. New 

 varieties may be produced by planting the 

 pits, just as in the case of plums and peaches. 

 Those who have the means and leisure could 

 not employ their time more beneficially to 

 their country or profitably to themselves 

 (since the late act of Congress securing abso- 

 lute ownership to new varieties of fruit) than 

 to plant the seeds and raise new varieties of 

 this beautiful and valuable tree. 



No long or tedious process, no expensive 

 machiuerj' is required to secure the oil. A 

 cheap .ipparatus, something like our old cider 

 mills, bruises the fruit from the stones and 

 reduces it to a soft pulp. This is separated 

 from the pits and placed in a common lever 

 or screw press, when the oil is gradually 

 forced out of it. The pits are afterwards 

 enished and afford an inferior article. The 

 oil is received into wooden or earthen vessels 

 where it is permitted to stand from twelve to 

 twenty-four hours to allow the mucilage to 

 settle. The oil is then carefully poured off' 

 into barrels, where it rests twenty days, when 

 it parts with any remaining impurities. The 

 oil cake is broken up, mixed with warm water 

 and subjected to a second pressure, when an 

 additional quantify is -obtained equal to the 

 first. The refuse is then converted into a 

 valuable fertilizer, so that nothing is lost. 

 One huudi'ed pounds of olives produce about 

 twenty-seven pounds of oil. 



Mr. James Lick, the great California phil- 

 anthropist and millionaire, with that peculiar 

 foresight which enabled him to amass a 

 colossal fortune, did not overlook the olive. 

 With that prescience which has distinguished 

 him in all his firiancial operations, he early 

 foresaw the immense value of this industry 

 and planted an olive orchard of several hun- 

 dred trees on his place adjoining this city on 

 the southwest, which is just now coming into 

 bearing, at about nine years old. He pro- 

 poses to begin, next season, the manufacture 

 of oil. Far down in the distant future, when 

 these trees shall have attained their full 

 growth, and produce thousands of gallons of 

 oil annually, men will assemble beneath their 

 cool and refreshing shade and, without a dis- 

 senting voice, will pronounce that olive orch- 

 ard one of Mr. LickJs best and most produc- 

 tive investments. 



The expectation of sudden riches has hith- 

 erto been the bane of California. The fabu- 

 lous mineral wealth of the country in the 

 flush times of '49, and the almost equally 

 wonderful advance in real estate, have well 

 nigh turned men's minds. They are even 

 now loth to enter the trodden paths of patient 

 indu-stry. But the lessening chances of spec- 

 ulation, the fall of interest and the rapid 

 increase of a competitive population with 

 Eastern ideas of business, are fast producing I 

 that equilibrium which alone guarantees a 



sound and permanent basis of prosperity. 

 Far-sighted business men are learning to 

 be content with a less, because a more certain, 

 profit. Instead of running after bonanzas, 

 they are investing their surplus funds in lands, 

 buildings and manufactures. And among 

 their profitable investments there is none bet- 

 ter than the planting of olive orchards. Be- 

 sides, this is in the line of that diversified 

 industry which can only render a people great, 

 rich and truly independent. 



Many of the lower animals, with a wonder- 

 ful instinct, lay up provisions for the imme- 

 diate future, but man, with higher intellectual 

 endowments and a loftier ambition, lays up 

 treasures, not only for the immediate, but for 

 the remote future. This looking forward — 

 this anticipation of the wants of coming gen- 

 erations, can only be indulged in by beings 

 "longing for immortality." This laudable 

 attempt to perpetuate ourselves in the physi- 

 cal surroundings of earth is but an exponent 

 and measure of the "divinity within us," and 

 the more this wise forethought is exercised, 

 the higher we rise in the scale of excellence. 

 Then plant the olive for the future — plant it 

 for posterity — plant it for the coming millions 

 — erect for yourself a monument that will 

 out-last empires — plant the tree that produces 

 the oil of gladness that it may be poured ujMm 

 the "troubled waters" of the future — plant 

 the emblem of peace. 



San Jose, Aj^ril, 1875. 



Curious Epitaphs. 



BY ELISA E. ANTHONY. 



Eds. AoKictri-TURisT : I send yon a few epi- 

 taphs, humorous and curious, which I found 

 in an old book lately, some of which may 

 afford your readers as much amusement as 

 they did me. 



The following epitaph was written by 



Franklin many years before his death : 



" Tlie body of Benjaiuin Franklin, printf r, (like the 

 cover of an old book, its contents torn out, and stript 

 of its letters and gilding) lies bere. food fur worms; 

 yet the work itself shall not bo lost, for it will (as he 

 believes) appear once more in a new and more beauti- 

 ful edition, corrected and amended by the Author." 



Fuller, the well-known author of British 

 Worthies, wrote his own epitaph as it appears 

 in Westminster Abbey. It consists of but 

 four words, but it si)eaks volumes; 

 " Here lies Fuller's earth." 



Byron's misauthopy vented itself in an epi- 

 taph on his Newfoundland dog, which he 

 concluded with the following lines: 



" To mark a friend's remains these stones arise; 

 I never knew but one, and here be lies." 



The following is a copy of an epitaph in 

 the church-yard at North Shields, which has 

 been the subject of much laughter to many 

 persons on account of its absurdity: 



" In menrory of James Bell, of North Shields, who 

 died mth of January, 1763, aged 42 years. Margaret, 

 widow of the abi>ve ssiid James Bell, died Dec. Wth, 

 aged 49 years. She was wife after to Wm. Fenwick. 

 of North Shields." 



The following lines were -written underneath 

 it with a pencil: 



" As in the Scriptures it is said. 



No marriages in heaven are made. 



It Seems that M.nrgarel*s ghost did go 



To Pluto's drearv realms below. 



"NN'tiere she. poor soul, not long had tarried 



Till her friend Will and her gt»t marrietL" 



The following quaint epitaph is copied from 

 a church-yard in Finsbury, near Chatham : 



"Time was I stood as thou dost now. 

 And viewed Trie dead as thou dost me: 



Ere long thou'It lie as low as I. 

 And others stand to look on thee." 



How true is the above! 



The following is an inscription on a tomb- 

 stone in JIassachusetts. It is beautiful: 



•' I came in the morning^it was Spring, 



And I smiled; 

 I walked out at noon — it was Summer, 



And I was glad; 

 I sat me down at even — it was Autumn, 



And I was sad; 

 I laid me down at night— it was Winter, 



Arid I slept." 



