: JN. 



it care is i.-e,>mmendt 

 olives are gathered to keep them wall ven- 

 tilated and to prevent their fermenting. It 

 [a possible, but docs not appear desirable, to 

 feeep them a month, if the places where 

 they are stored are clean and well aired. 

 If mills are few It is sometimes necessary 

 to Keep them longer, if the mills are 

 numerous the general result is sooner at- 

 tained. But wholesale processes are no 

 more to taa desired in making oil than in 

 (Sie.maklnR of wine, U hen mills are few 

 nnd the crop heavy the quality is usually 

 Inferior. In the olive regions much Is lost 

 by the small farmers in good years by hav- 

 ing to wait on the mills till their crop is 

 ldly dimaged, 



urd may be said here in regard to the 

 average product in pan years in the south 

 of France. Large trees occupying about 

 thirty-three feet square of ground were ex- 

 pected to give from 130 to 150 liters of oil, 

 the liler being something less than a quart. 

 Tins amount has in certain cases been 

 raised to GOO or 000 Irtcrs. Olives of low 

 trunk occupying one-fourth the space were 



.In the habit of Elving from thirty to forty 

 liters, or in exceptional years 100 liters. 



' This was supposed to aggregate a mean 

 product of 140 hectoliters, or about .;n-;o 

 gallons to the hectare, or two aud a half 

 acres. This product is varied in various 

 localities, and according to the treatment 

 of the iree. Further details in regard to 

 cost of culture and pr "uct of oil to the 

 acre in different regions will be given in 

 tuturo articles. A description ot the methods 

 of cultivating tbe tree and gathering the 

 fruit having been given, it remains to de- 

 scribe the usual mode followed in crushing 

 the olive, in refining the oil, nnd getting it 

 ready for market. 



THE ANCIENT MILLS. 



It is not necessary lo suppose that the 

 mills tised for crushing tbe olive In Italy 

 and the south ol France are the best that 

 have ever been devised, or that they cau- 

 cot he supplanted by those of Americau 

 Invention. The present cultivators of the 

 Dlive in these countries have inherited 

 Ihem, as they have their speech, their cus- 

 toms and their agricultural practices. But 

 the kind of mill used is of less importance 

 than the cleanness of the olives when they 

 are brought to it. the cleanness of tho mill 

 Itself and the neatness of its surroundings 

 aud appurtenances. In this respect tne 

 average mill in France and Italy for there 

 i are exception! leaves much to be desired 

 in resp.ct lo tbese prime qualities of treat- 

 ment of the fruit and the product. It is on 

 tbe principle of the old-fashioned cider- 

 mills used not so very long ago in America 

 an upright wheel running round in a 

 circular trough and crushing the fruit by 

 its weight. The wheel of the cider-mill 

 was made of wood, while those used for the 

 olive are Of fitone, and they revolve in a 

 i sort of basin around a central upright pivot. 

 Usually there is but one millstone, but 

 tometimes there are two, one on either side 

 the upright, and attached by a shaft, 

 which has as its motive power the upright 

 or pivot. In ancient times those mills 

 ) by flaves or by peasants, as is 

 ill the case in Algiers and elsewhere 

 Junoiit: half-civilized peoples. Later, horses 

 'were used, and they are still used where 

 o other motive power better is obtain- 

 able. But as tbe olive is generally 

 fcullivated ou the slopes of hills 

 or mountains, which furnish abundant 

 water power, A more economical agent is 

 v available. So tho mills are usually 

 Situated near tbe course of a stream or 

 where the water can be easily diverted and 

 ip.raght to them. Sometimes several are 

 tlaced one below the other, using in suc- 

 cession the water of the same brook or 

 The water-wheels arc of the large, 

 it kind, now rarely seen in America 

 xc(i(it in very rural districts, and need 

 very little water. The water so used is not 

 always of the cleanest, and though it does 

 piiiiKle with the olives, it is in danger of 

 affoctiae the quality of tbe oil by its odor. 

 The mill itself is also often a building 

 never Intended for tbe use dark, close, 

 damp. moldy, and having also ft tendency 

 to ftinto'lbe quality of the oil. The basin 

 In whica the wboels, rollers or millstones 

 circulate is usually of stone, .bnt may be 

 of iron, which is more easily cleaned. 

 Koine prefer water power becui.se tl 

 tlon i slow and sieady an 1 the pulp : = 

 taken efl without breaking the atone or 

 Coed, a most undesirable result, na it gives 

 the oil an unpleasant llavor. others favor 

 tbe use of steam as a motive power and a 

 raore rapid movement, that the crushjug 

 y be sooner finished and that there may 

 less Uauger of fermentation. An large* 

 itityAS is desired is put into tbe basin, 

 >e millstones are set in motion, aii-I when 

 'he pulp is sufficiently ground the stone is 

 and the paste is removed vlth a 



Ish grass. These are ca'.led by the French 

 "scourtins." They are bat a few inches 

 deep, and the hole by which the paste is 

 placed in them is considerably smaller than 

 the diameter. Their shape is much like 

 that of a lady's work-bag partly drawn to- 

 gether at the top. Tbe paste is equally dis- 

 tributed about in them, a metal plate is 

 placed over each to prevent its receiving 

 the oil of. that above it, they ar-i placed one 

 above the other in the pross. and when the 

 power is applied they flaiten out like o 

 many pancakes. The oil passes out at the' 

 Bides and tbe paste remains in the sacks. 

 The old-fashioned press, still generally 

 used, consists of two blocks, the upper of , 

 wood, the lower sometimes of iron, and the 

 power is applied by a lever and screw upon 

 the pile of ecourtins, which form a column 

 between them. 

 Tfce liquid from the first pressure bears 



little rese- ^>i"ice to olive oil. There runs 

 out wit), it >-r ' remains with it at certain 

 times a percentage of water, which is dark 

 and bitter, and is called by the French 

 <..iniir<iur. The oil gradually rises lo the sur- 

 face, is skimmed off and placed usually in 

 igreiit earthen jais, to await transportation 

 to the city, where it is to be refined. The 

 oil which runs first from the press is the 

 best, and tbe quality deteriorates in propor- 

 tion to the pressure applied. This does not. 

 however, prevent the application of the 

 greatest possible power, for all qualilies of 

 oil nave their use, if not for the table, for 

 the making of soaps and for tbe arts. If 

 the prossion is made with care, tho first 

 is kept apart and commands a much higher 

 price when taken to market. The residue 

 after the first pressure is again treated. It 

 Is passed again through the mill, with the 

 addition of warm water, and usain pressed, 

 'There now cornea from it a thick oil known 

 as "ressence," which is used in the indus- 

 trial art?. A third pressure might be ap- 

 plied, but the result would scarcely pay for 

 the trouble. 



THE IDEAL MILL. 



This describes the olive mill as it now 

 eilsts aud has existed and done its work 

 for many generations with slight ameliora- 

 tion, except in certain localities. The culti- 

 vator of the orchards is generally left to his 

 own ways by Ibe merchant and refiner in 

 the city, who takes the product when it is 



| brouehi in pigskins or goatskins, as it Is 

 still in Nice, or in casks as In Italy, to 

 his own door for sale. An enthusiastic 

 writer has, however, described a model 

 mill which should have four millstones, 

 eight presses, all necessary clean accesso- 

 ries, and should have steam a.s a motive 

 power. It should be on a hillside of suffi- 

 cient slope to receive the olives in the sec- 

 ond story for convenience of handling. 

 Such a mill should have three compart- 

 ments, aud should be nearly 100 feet in 

 length. The central apartment should 

 hove the necessary machinery: the one 

 at the right should receive tbe olives 

 nnd the one at the left the oils. 

 Olives that are to be kept ft while on 

 bond before using should be placed on 

 trays made of tinned iron wire, with 

 sides that will permit of laycis three inches 

 deep and ranged in order tne above the 

 oilier. The rooms should be* well venti- 

 lated, and the openings, If possible, toward 

 the south. By observing theso precautions 

 the fruit may be kept some da> without 

 losing Us quality. If the olives are to be 

 used at once they are simply emptied into a 

 trough connecting with the mill, whence 

 the aqueous product is conveyed into tbe 

 room on the other side where the oils are 

 kept. When the olives have been for some 

 days on the trays the workmen simply take 

 up the troys, which are made of a si/.e that 

 suits tbe operator, and empties them into 

 the trough connecting with the mill. If 

 there are four mills there may be a com- 

 partment opposite each. The upper open- 

 ing in the store-room is made large enough 

 to receive the olives easily from the trays. 

 The lower is placed conveniently near tbe 

 mill which is to crush the fruit. Tho pres- 

 sure on the olives . i laced in the 

 mill should b co::- name, and if 

 two stones rt. r </'..iid be care- ! 

 fully adjusted to this end. If the lower end 

 ol the trough in so arranged as to drop the 

 : 111 tl'; mill It ahould bnvo. a. 

 .mining bu: a few at a time, so that 

 ritiiratud at each time 

 may bo carefully mljustfcd to the pressure of 

 tbe millstones. The olives are kept under 

 the stones by moina of i 



j lime is lost. \V1 -s suf- 



ficiently crushed the pulp If! placed in the 

 scourtins and on tbe \.s sscs. and the mill is 



nt once set fiuain in motion. So speed and 

 economy in the oneration are slmui- 



y attained. If then 

 ecanieal details In thi* pross 



,. ' mill a m 



on solid masonry is recommended, and tho 

 time of trituration n quarter of an hour. If 

 tbe pulp were finer it would pass through 

 the meshes of the sacs or sometimes with 



'the liquid as it exudes from the press. 



Tiir : 



If the mill is perfectly constrncted the 

 pulp can be removed by an opening with- 

 out stopping, and received into tin buckets 

 [ and emptied into th? soourtins which are 

 'ii the platform ot the press. Th9 oil 

 begins to exude at once from the weight or 

 the pulp itself. It is the virgin oil. During 

 this operation tho mill goes on as usual, for 

 though a possible one, it is, I believe, an 

 ideal one in France and Italy. At least, I 

 saw none either at Nicedta,ucca like it. It 



:is, however, ndmirabia^^Fdesign, and all 

 the rules^ given for ^^Bncchanical treat- 

 ment of (ha oil exceVnt. The oil from 

 the first pressure is rB-ivort in ihe same 

 vessel, and care shonldW taken to keep it 

 remote from all bad odors like those of fer- 

 ' pulp, since oil absorbs smells of all 

 kinds easily. A good rule is supposed to 

 be this: Up to a pressure of 10,OOO pounds 

 tbe oil is received in a single, vessel ; up to 

 200,000 pounds tbe oil is automatically di- 

 rected to another vessel. The oils from 

 tbese different degrees of pressure should 

 not be mixed. It will be observed that the 

 sacks used to keep tho pulp in place in the 

 press must be of great strength to resist the 

 extreme force of hydraulic presses. But it 

 has been found thus far that nothing else 

 will answer the purpose, metallic appli- 

 ances having been tried and failed. From 

 the ideal mill the old-fashioned wooden 

 Dresses with lever and screw, still so gener- 

 ally med. are absolutely excluded, from 

 loss of time and lack of power. It is not to 

 be supposed that they will ever be used in 

 America, and need not therefore be taken 

 into consideration. The hydraulic presses 

 used at Nice have four columns, with 

 guides, whose distance apart permits the 

 use of scourtins two and a half feet in diam- 

 eter. For convenience the number of tanks 

 or vessels can be limited, one receiving the 

 virein oil of two presses and another that of 

 the second pressure. 



THE IIEfEIVlNO TANKS. 



The tanks are of capacity sufficient for all 

 purposes. They receive the nnpleasant- 

 lookintr liquid that flows from the presses; 

 it remains in them till the oil rises to the 

 surfacn, sweet to the smeil and agreeable to 

 the taste, and is drawn of!" by cocks or llex- 

 ible tubes. The methods are not always 

 the same. An efficient svstem recom- 

 mended is to have three tanks each at a 

 somewhat lower level. The tin pipe which 

 takes the oil from tbe press runs lo the 

 bottom of Hie first, and the oil gradually 

 disengaging itself rises to the top of the 

 water. At the point of meeting there Is 

 maintained by Its own gravity the mouth 

 of another flexible tube, which conveys the 

 oil back through the impure medium into 

 the lower tauk, whose side rises a part of 

 the way acainst the side of the higher. It 

 at the bottom, rises to the lop anil 

 flows out at a depression into the third tank 

 ooiitninins a filter. In the second tank is a 

 sort of revolving cylinder placed hori- 

 zontally which aids in the separation of the 

 impure material. From the third tank it is 

 <i out from the bottom into the casks 

 used for its exportation. There are other 

 appliances for manipulating the oil and 

 emptying the tanks, bnt the arrangements 

 cannot be easily understood without a cut, 

 and are not therefore more minutely de- 

 scribed. An establishment like "this, perfect 

 in all Its details, is in a measure Ideal, and 

 this approximately complete description is 

 given for the valuable hints and really 

 available suggestions it aflorda to the Amer- 

 ican cultivator. Sometimes in tbe south of 

 France, at Nice and G rosso, a fen- small' 

 i-roprietors unite and use a mill. Often the 

 mill is entirely independent of the prom-ie- 

 lors and collects its products from them, 

 ;ng such return as is mutually agreed . 

 on, and its construction, though it may 

 have some modern appliances, is generally 

 after the old style. The olives are crushed 

 by a single millstone running round in u 

 small Btoiu basin: the oil is extracted by 

 an old-fashioned press, placed in large jars 

 standing round against the wall, and taken 

 in due lime to the city merchants, who re- 

 fine it and place it on the market. The fil- 

 tering is never done in the small mills, but 

 always in the city. 



THK ril.TKI'.JSi; I 1 ! 



The oils of Nice have always had, an ex- 

 cellent reputation, though since the partial 

 failure of the crops of the region the rer- 

 cl'anls hav been obliged to extend their 

 srcft of purchase even as far i. 



.-stab 

 iishmeuK are of brick 01 



)il is 

 ..ins, it is taslcrl bv tl.e 



