40 HOUGH'S AMERICAN WOODS. 



1 i in, in length, of a bluish-black color and astringent bitter flavor only fit to 

 eat after being treated and pickled. It has been greatly improved by cultivation, 

 the fruit of the wild tree being small and comparatively worthless. Many varie- 

 ties are found in cultivation based mainly upon the quality of the fruit. 



A small to medium-sized evergreen tree of willow-like aspect occa- 

 sionally attaining the height of 40 or 50 ft. (14 in.) with irregular top 

 of few large branches and rather open airy foliage, parti-colored, as 

 the wind turns up the leaves and reveals the white under surfaces in 

 strong contrast with the dark green of the upper surfaces. The trunk 

 is irregular, with ridges, buttresses and burls, and occasionally attains 

 the diameter of 12 to 18 in. (0.40 m.) or more, clothed with thin gray 

 bark scarcely more than j- in. in thickness fissured into narrow 

 fibrous thick-scaled ridges. It commences to bear fruit very early, 

 the fourth year from slips or cuttings and the seventh or eighth from 

 the seed, and also lives to very great age. 



HABITAT. The Olive is thought to be a native of Asia Minor, but 

 has been cultivated from the earliest times in Syria and Palestine, 

 and was thence distributed throughout the whole Mediterranean 

 region where it has generally become naturalized. With the found- 

 ing of the old missions it was introduced into southern California 

 where olive-growing has now become a great and lucrative industry, 

 and the tree has become sparingly naturalized. It thrives in nearly 

 every well-drained soil, even those that are too poor for other fruits. 

 and has a wonderful constitution for withstanding drouth. 



PHYSICAL PROPERTIES. Wood heavy, hard, strong, of very 

 smooth fine grain, with irregular annual rings, minute evenly dis- 

 tributed ducts and fine obscure medullary rays. It is susceptible of a 

 very smooth polish and is of a pink-buff color mottled and streaked 

 with rich orange-brown, which appears in irregular confluent and 

 concentric rings in the transverse section, and the sap-wood is of a 

 very light yellow color. 



The wood is much valued in turnery, but the great value of the tree 

 is in its fruit, and it is this which makes it one of the most valuable of 

 trees. The fresh fruit is of a strongly astringent bitter flavor when 

 fresh, and has to be soaked in w^ater containing potasli and lime to 

 expel its bitterness before it is fit to eat. It is then bottled and 

 marketed in an aromatized salt pickle. For this use its green fruit 

 has generally been used, though there is a constantly increasing 

 demand for the pickled ripe olives. 



Olive oil, which is the lightest of the fixed non-drying oils, is 

 obtained from the pulp of the ripe fruit by expression. So rich 



