OLIVE. 26o 



days, and afterwards put into a ley of water and barilla, 

 or kali, with the ashes of olive-stones calcined, or with 

 lime. It is then bottled or barrelled with salt and water, 

 and in this state do we meet with it at the desserts of our 

 most wealthy tables, where fashion has done much in 

 having introduced and given a fondness for olives, which 

 seems to be an acquired taste : however, they are grateful 

 to the stomach, and are considered good to promote di- 

 gestion and appetite. 



But olives are chiefly cultivated for the sake of the oil 

 that they produce, which is not only a profitable article of 

 commerce, but forms a principal one of food to the inha- 

 bitants of the places where these trees are found. This 

 oil is contained in the pulp only, whereas other fruits 

 have it in the nut or kernel. It is obtained by simple 

 pressure, in the following manner : the olives are first 

 bruised by a mill-stone, and afterwards put into the 

 trough of a press, which, by means of turning a strong 

 screw, forces all the liquor out, which is called virgin oil. 

 A coarser kind is obtained afterwards, by adding hot 

 water to the bruised fruit. 



Oil is the main support of commerce in some provinces 

 of Italy. It forms the great trade of the Gallipolitans. 

 It appears by the books of their custom-house, that in 

 1766, eleven thousand four hundred and fifty-nine salme 

 were shipped off for national markets, and thirty-four 

 thousand four hundred and ninety-three salme for foreign 

 ones. This quantity cannot be valued at less than a mil- 

 lion of ducats. The exportation of oil brings into Cala- 

 bria-ultra half a million of ducats annually. 



The olive-tree is attended to with the nicest care near 

 Naples, and no trouble spared to increase its fruitfulness, 

 or revive prolific vigour in plants that begin to feel the 

 decay of age ; at one time they manure or water the roots ; 

 in winter the peasants bare the roots of the old trees, lay 



