- 



rYft/rt& : 



Wlnit i- llciiis :<; i Aiifturn A 

 <ii!inf<> :it Str. A>;:M-I|'S OrcSmril. 



We paid a brief visit, to Dr. Agnrti'f 

 olive ranch the other day, and wi 

 found much to iutert-Nt us and also tilt 

 general public ill the work that is 

 there beinj: jnialipd forwaid. He has 

 several men employed plowing, plant- 

 ing, building fence, etc. Ilia place, 

 bought about eighteen nuntha ago, 

 comprises some forty-six acres, p<rt of 

 which, including a very eligible 

 building, spot, shaded and protected 

 by pines, is on a very sightly, knoll 

 overlooking on one side the railroad, 

 the town, and the Sacramento Valley, 

 while on the other-it conmiuiids a 

 beautiful view of the eternal snow- 

 cupped Sierras in the distance. Dur- 

 ing the past year the Doctor has 

 i planted about 1000 olive trees, some 

 300 poach trees, and from 500 to GOO 

 Fj-encb and Hungarian prunes most- 

 ly the former. He bus also planted a 

 number of nut trees, pecans, filberts, 

 and several varieties <>f the prcepar- 

 turiens English walnuts. He intends 

 as soon as possible to put in an assort- 

 ment of plums Coe's Golden Drop, 

 . Uoiuinbiw, WashiiiKton, and a new, 

 rare, and excellent variety known as 

 Kalscy'a Japanese plum. He is also 

 planting a cherry orchard, about 150 

 trees of which are already set out. 

 Around his house, which, though 

 snug and commodious enough for anj 

 bachelor, is destined sonn to give w> 

 to a larger and more elegant structure 

 on the knoll above mentioned/ liu has 

 a nice orchard of paars, apples, etc. 

 The ranch is irrigated by means of a 

 huije cistern which holds 12,000 or 

 13,000 gallons of waler placed high 

 enough up to cnnmand every rod of 

 the ground. The water is obtained 

 from a pool, distant a few hun- 

 dred yards. From there it is 

 pumped up into the tank by the aid 

 of a sU".-.iu-eiilue and pump which 

 occupy covered quarters between the 

 pool and the tanl:. 



]Jut tlu one thing of paramount in- 

 terest to fruit-growers and the general 

 public is the experiment of olive cul- 

 ture in this locality and altitude. 

 The doctor regards success as assured 

 and with very excellent reasons for 

 his belief. Mr. L>. A. Gould whose 

 place is about two miles north of Ati- 

 - burn, has demonstrated the fau'.- 

 practically this Winter by manufac- 

 turing oil from trees grown on his 

 place. The oil U pronounced by con- 

 noisseurs to be strictly first-class in all 

 respects. The Doctor's trees are yet 

 too young to bear, having been 

 planted, as we B;cl already, only a 

 veur uo. But they are looking eX- 

 uemely thrifty, They W* chiefly 

 from root.cutlfags and were for the 

 mc.st part three years old. 

 about six ;.r cent have been lost 

 lianspbiutii't?, H'O usual uveruj 

 of loss being souittli'".g li!-e ten i'ei 

 cent. 



We have procfcurirpil in season and out 

 of season, that for the liill olives wero 

 the thing. On a 40 iinrc tract pin-chiised 

 of,]. \V. (iati'H, J. M. 'Brooks -the tn<; 

 mnn'iiiid Goo. Ca,-y of Oakland, will plant 

 I twenty norus in Pieolme olives. A nurse 

 ry devoted to specialties will also lm es- 

 tablished. The land is a portion of the 

 choicest property of Mr. Gates, and is 

 (iiipahle of being irrigated. Stra""'>efries 

 and small fruits are to rf \ .i..good 



al of attention. v^ 



OLIVE CULTURE. 



M"ANY oP >>ur enterprising inte<j 

 rior exchanges are making 

 continuous efforts to interest and 

 encourage the people of California 

 in olive culture. Very gratifying 

 success has been obtained by many, 

 in different parts of the State, who 

 'have devoted themselves to this in- 

 dustry. There are many things- said 

 in its favor. The olive tree neecTs 

 but little care while* growing, and 

 'can be raised from a cutting. Al- 

 most any farmer has some poor 

 land, which he considers to be 

 almost worthless. This, set out in 

 'olive trees, would, in a few years, 

 yield a fair return, and it would 

 I help to give variety in the produc- 

 tion of a place.- " Putting all the 

 eggs in one nest," or using all one's 

 land for some particular crop, is 

 not generally the wisest course to 

 follow. The farmer who sum- -Is 

 best, in the long run, is he who has j 

 more than one crop to depend upon, j 

 Then, failure in any particular line, 

 does not hopelessly, cripple him. 

 Hence, a combination, as vines, 

 fruit and olives, with the cereals, is 

 generally advisable. San Bernar- 

 dino I-iidex.^^ ...^,-^f.^^^ <2/y.'X 



LiVS~"On. We have had the pleasure of 

 'testing 3. sample of olive oil made at the ranch 

 of C,-C.MIver, at Jdjssion ,Si Jose, in Ala- 



Mclver now owns the fine ranches formerty 

 owned by Messrs. Palmer and Cook. He is im- 

 proving them in many enterprising ways. 

 Mission has improved wonderfully during the 

 last few years . We al *aoSXreea/rle<Lit 

 of the most delightful 



O1.IVK Oi'.rl! ' 



I 



i(ICSS 

 .-Mid eaiiii. out in 4 



healtli. Tlieclimai 



ficial, he bought 2,500 acrea of wiid land, 



including n fine canyon through which a 

 pretty stream finds its way from tile 

 neighboring mountains. Driving 

 tilt gate \re passed tln-nngh liaif a mile of 

 walnut orchards, the trees bein^ in pn'fect 

 order and promising an abundant yield. 

 Thin tive thrives well on the const and is 

 very protitali'e, but :.s it does not bear 

 well until 10 years old, a gooil deal of 

 patience must be e.xerci.-erl. The great 

 work of this enlightened and cultivated 

 agriculturist has been the introduction of 

 the olive tree, which Mr. Cooper finds the 

 most pri:titahli! of al! his fruits, ai:d to 

 which lie now devotes his chief attention. 

 In this climate the oiive Jlum-ishe:, even 

 better than in Italy, and in seven ye;us 

 begins tn give an abundant yield. The 

 berries are. gathered in J >e^- 

 after being crushed by great > 

 are pressed until every drop of oil is e\- 

 '. The oil is then left in in. 

 ir four months, during which the 

 i dark and bitter dregs sink to the bottom. 

 From ',lv; upper part of the casks 

 the oil, 7iow clear as crystal, is drawn off 

 mid bottled for sale. IVrLapj no article 

 of di.niestic consumption U more 

 terated than olive oil, and very much that 

 is used in this country has not a drop of 

 the juice of the olive tree. When in New 

 Orleans, not long since, I visited a mil) 

 i for crushing cotton seed, and found tlmt 

 ' nearly all the oil went to Italy. Immense 

 quantities of lard oil are put up in this- 

 country for the same market.and curiously 

 enough the American peanut is being sent 

 in the same direction. There is too much 

 reason to believe that these oils come back 

 to us in thn well-known flasks, probably 

 wholesome enough and pleasant to tke 

 taste, but still not olive oil. The rapidly 

 extending knowledge of this Italian de- 

 ; is causing a growing demand for 

 American olive oil, and I was not sur- 

 prised to find that Klwood Cooper had 

 already sold in New York and Chicago 

 his entire season's yield of 24,000 bottes. 

 California is a big State, and we shall soon 

 be independent of tile Italians, even if 

 it spoils the markets for cotton seed and 

 'lard. The peanuts we can lea.e to the 





generation. [/%(>. <'/'<<. 

 V 



In ftWlasc number of the' Southern California 

 Practitioner Dr. J. P. Widney has a paper on the 

 olive of so much interest that it seems worthy of a 

 wide circulation. Olive-growing is destined to. 

 become a matter of great importance to Southern 

 California. The paper is reproduced as follows : 

 In an article entitled "The Anglo-Teuton in a 

 New Home," allusion was made to the olive as one 

 ef the food-plants of the new climato belt within 

 which he ie now beginning to make his abode. 

 Its dietic value is by him not as jet fully appre- 

 ciated. 



Fat as a food is essential in some form to the 

 physical well-being of man, anil nature seems to 

 have wisely provided for each climatic zone a Bap- 

 ply of that especial form of fatty material best 

 anited to it. The Esquimaux finds in the blubber 

 of the walrus or the seal the strong animal fat, 

 rich in hydro- carbons, which ha instinctively 

 craves, because of the system's need of a strong 

 beat-producing diet to enable him to keep up bod- 

 ily temperature, and thns do battle with tho rluor- 

 ons Arctic colds. 



The animal life of the polar regions is marked 

 by a tendency to the abundant formation *>C fat.' 

 In the warmer regions of the world, on the con- 

 trary, animals possess less fat-producing and fat- 

 storing power, and mea loose the appetite for ani- 

 mal food. Yet even in the tropics fat in some 

 form is a necessity in the food of man. Corn anil 

 wine nd oil were ever symbols of earthly well- 

 being, not only in the promised land of the old* 

 Hebrew, but to all the races clustering about the 

 shores of the Mediterranean. And it is the vege- 

 table oils that have replaced tlie grosser aniranl 

 fats of the more northern climates, as being better 

 adapted in their dietetic uses to the higher tem- 

 perature. 



The animal fats, if nsed to any great extent in 

 the warmer climates, seem to devslop disease in 

 the human organism. It took the English colony 

 of India a century to rind out that the strong meat 

 diet of the .North nsed iu the climate of India in- 

 variably produced a diseased liver and death. 

 Now that they, learning by expeiience, are adopt- 

 ing the light vegetable diat of the natives, they 

 endure the climate much better. 



The oil which in southern latitudes has most 

 generally taken the place of the animal fats is the 

 oil of the olive. It is lighter and less heat-pro- 

 ducing than the oils 01 fats of animal origin. It 



