THE OLIVE. 31? 



Mediterranean, and which is inclosed between that 

 sea and the mountains of Cevennes and the Alps. 



The proper time for gathering olives for the press* 

 is the eve of maturity. If delayed too long, the next 

 crop is prevented, and the tree is productive only in 

 the alternate years. At Aix, where the olive harvest 

 takes place early in November, it is annual: in 

 Languedoc, Spain, and Italy, where it is delayed till 

 December or January, it is in alternate years. The 

 quality of the oil, also, depends upon the gathering 

 of the fruit in the first stage of its maturity. It should 

 be carefully plucked by the hand; and the whole 

 harvest completed, if possible, in a day. To concoct 

 the mucilage, and allow the water to evaporate, it is 

 spread out, during two or three days, in beds three 

 inches deep. The oil mill is simple. The fruit is 

 reduced to a pulp, put into sacks of course linen, or 

 feather-grass, and subjected to pressure. The oil 

 first expressed is the purest. The oil of the kernel 

 is said to injure that of the fruit, and cause it to be- 

 come sooner rancid. The growth of olives and the 

 manufacture of the oil offer a considerable employment 

 to many of the inhabitants of France and Italy. The 

 importation of olive oil into Great Britain amounted, 

 in 1827, to about four thousand five hundred tuns, 

 paying a duty of eight guineas per tun. 



The olive grows in England; though, in the seve- 

 rity of our winters, it changes its character. In the 

 south, it is an evergreen; but in England, it loses its 

 leaves. Indeed, it needs protection even in the mildest 

 winters; and it is only in the very warmest summers 

 that it will produce fruit a little, which does not ripen, 

 and is of very slight flavour. 



In ancient times, especially, the olive was a tree 

 held in the greatest veneration, for then the oil was 



* Hillhousa on the Olive Tree. 



