198 



MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE. 



and 6 livres (12 lbs.) each." In Langnedoc 

 "olives pay in general 3 livres (6 lbs.) each 

 ti-ee per annum; some 5 livres (10 lbs.)" 

 At Pingean " some large and fine trees are 

 known to give 84 lbs. of oil (or 11^ gallons 

 of oil, as tlie gallon weighs 7^ lbs.) ; but they 

 reckon in common, that good trees give 6 

 livres (12 lbs.) one with another." In the 

 article Olive, in Michaux's North American 

 Sylva, vol. ii., page 196, Mr. Hillhouse says, 

 " the mean produce of a tree may be assumed 

 in France, at 10 lbs. (IJ galls.), and in Italy 

 at 15 lbs. (2 galls.) ; but single trees have 

 been known, in the productive season, to 

 yield 300 lbs. (41 galls.)" 



Young states the jJroduce of a field of 200 

 trees in Tuscany, to have been, 



lu 1786, 30 barrels, (150 lbs. each,") or 615 gaUs. of oil. 



1787, 3 .. .. .. 61 



1788, 8 .. .. .. 164 



1789, 25 .. .. .. 512 



66 barrels, 



1352 gaUons, 



or an average per annum of 338 gallons, be- 

 ing If gallons per tree. (Travels, vol. ii., 

 page 235.) 



" On a very bad stony soil, though in the 

 plain, I found it toolc twenty trees of 25 years' 

 gi'owth, to yield a barrel of oil (20^ gallons.) 

 But in a fine soil, and with very old trees, a 

 barrel a tree has been known." 



From these statements, assuming that the 

 district to which I have conjeclurally hmited 

 the olive culture, has a climate as favorable 

 for it as that of the South of France, we may 

 place the product of a tree in fidl bearing, as 

 giving a mean annual yield of one gallon of 

 oil, or 25 galls, to the acre, when the land is 

 cultivated at the same time in some other 

 crop ; or at 50 gaUons, if exclusively devoted 

 to the olive. Estimating the oil at the mod- 

 erate price of 75 cents per gallon, and the 

 value will be, in the former case, $18| per 

 acre, and ui the latter, $37^. But to the first 

 must be added the value of the corn or other 

 crops cultivated on the same land ; and wliich 

 may be put down at nearly a fuU crop every 

 second year, as the trees are reckoned in 

 Italy to diminish tlie graui crop only one-fifth. 



It is presumed that the best mode of pro- 

 moting the general introduction of the olive 

 into this country will be to recommend the 

 mixed cultivation. As the ohve only begins 

 to bear about the tenth year, and does not ar- 

 rive at its full production before the 20th to 

 the 30th, few persons would consent to ex- 

 pend so much labor before reaping any re- 

 turn. 



But under' the mixed system, nearly the 

 full amount of the usual crops is made, and 

 the manuring and cultivating of the grain 

 crops will be sufficient for the olive trees, and 

 the labor of planting the young trees is almost 

 the only extra work they will require until 

 Jhey commence bearing. The only objec- 

 tion which is likely to present itself at present 

 is the necessity oi' excluding all stock from 

 the fields; but whenever our Agricultm'e 

 (438) 



shall become more enUghtened, this will be 

 generally done. 



The question may be asked by those who 

 have usually regarded olive oil as merely an 

 article of household economy, of very limited 

 use in North America, whether a ready sale 

 of tlie oil can be depended on ? They may 

 believe with the late Aljbe Correa, that our 

 countrymen have " bacon stomachs," and 

 that it will be veiy difficult so I'ar to conquer 

 the obstinacy of established habit as to induce 

 them to substitute pure oil for rancid bacon. 

 If the only use of this oil wei-e for food, it 

 would undoubtedly require time to introduce 

 it into general consumption ; but that time 

 vnll effect it, there can be no doubt, from the 

 intrinsic value of the article. Until tlien an 

 ample demand for all that can be produced 

 vdll be found in the annually increasing con- 

 sumption of this oil in machinery, and in va- 

 rious manufactures, particularly of wool and 

 soap.* Already we import 82,655 gallons, 

 (see Report of the Secretary of the Treasury 

 for 1845,) and as our manufactures are com- 

 paratively, as yet, but in tlieir infancy, and 

 our po25ulation increasing with undiminislied 

 rapidity, there is no danger of the production 

 overtaking the demand. What tlie demand 

 may become, is shown by tlie facts that Eng- 

 land imported in the year 1830, 2,791,057 

 gallons of olive oil, valued then at about 

 $2,500,000— an average of 88 cents per gal- 

 lon (McCuUoch's Commercial Dictionary, ai-- 

 ticle Olive Oil) ; and that France, although 

 the production of that Kingdom was, as early 

 as 1788, estimated at 75,000,000 of francs, or 

 nearly$15,000,000,t(Peuchet Statistique Ele- 

 mentaire de la France, p. 327,) has yet im- 

 ported in one yeai- olive oil to the value of 

 nearly 30,000,000 francs, or $6,000,000. 



Some idea may be fonued of the value of 

 the olive tree as a source of national wealth, 

 irom the above statement of its production in 

 France, a country on the northern verge of 

 the olive climate. In countries more favora- 

 bly situated, it is still more important. The 

 small Kingdom of Naples exports annually 

 about 7,300,000 gallons of olive oil, valued 

 there at $3,400,000. (McCidloch's Commer- 

 cial Dictionary, article Naples.) 



But as ohve oil enters largely into domes- 

 tic consumption, particularly among the lower 

 classes, foiTning a wholesome and nutritious 

 article of food, it has an importance fai' ex- 

 ceeding its merely commercial value. The 

 ample home production of the necessaiies of 

 life is the true foundation of national inde- 

 pendence and happiness ; and whatever adds 

 to the unstinted enjoyment of physical com- 

 fort, it becomes the well wisher of his coun- 

 try to cherish more sedulously than those ar- 



* Hereafter, perhaps, when the whale fishery shall 

 be exhausted, tor lights. 



t Chaptal estimates the quantity of land cultivated 

 in the Olive in France at 43,OOU hectanes, or about 

 106,000 acres, which gives au annual income per 

 acre of nearly $14. (De I'lndustrie Fran^aise, t. i., 

 p. 207.) 



