^[hcat prize with \\ 

 HMHf' r'ory and 

 Bu^Ht war, when , 



V:m 'H '',| wished to approach his poW- 

 ' |1ul ' pptnfclit, In -carried aiinlive branch 

 as a token symbol of a peaceful disposi- 

 lioii. When we make 



A I.'ITIOAL STI 1)1 01 Til].; IH.IVE 



We find it distinguished for- its great 

 longevity and its wonderful usefulness to 

 ' In respect to longevity it rank- the 

 orange,. although the famous tree in the 

 garden ot the Vatican in Rome is said 

 upon good authority to be a thousand 

 years old. A high degree of reverence is 

 awakened when we see the photographs 

 ot tho>e noted olive trees of Syria and 

 Palestine, still standing as monuments of 

 the dead past, spreading their green. 

 1'ianches to the summer sun, and invit- 

 ing the weary traveler now, as they did 

 Titus and his Itoimin legions, to rest in 

 their grateful shade. 



It is reasonable to suppose that a 

 tree, living on in a healthy condition 

 from age to age, should, under favorable 

 conditions, attain a great size, hence we[ 

 are not surprised to read the statement 

 of travelers giving the measurement of 

 .some of these grand old giants of the 

 I'.ast u mentioned having a di- 



ameter of fifteen feet at the ground. Tliisi 



I.HKJ^T TENACITY OK LIKE 



Permits a treatment which wonld kill an 

 ordinary fruit tree. If its leaves and 

 branches have become infested with smut 

 or insects, tfie er.tire head can be cut 

 laway. leaving only the main stem, which 

 will send. out new branches, forming a 

 new head with renewed fruitfulness. 

 Olive-wood is used extensively in Europe 

 for cabinetwork. At the Cape of Good 

 Hope, on account of its hardness and 

 strength, it is called iron-wood. In China 

 the flowers of the fragrant olive are used 

 for flavoring tea. 



THE OI.IVK UKLT OF THE WoKl.li 



Is quite extensive. Beginning with its 

 home in Asia it extends westward, in- 

 cluding parts of the northern coast of 

 Africa, Southern Europe, a. part of the 

 .oast of Australia and the southern coast 

 of California. 



Its true home is a semi-tropical cli- 

 mate, and go where you will along this 

 belt you find it within hailing distance of 

 c >ea. From three to ten miles cover- 

 'g the foothills, and sometimes along 

 the Mediterranean it is planted near the 

 water edge. There are exceptions to this 

 rule; at Damascus it is in a flourishing' 

 condition fifty miles from the sea. The 

 extreme heat of the interior valleys is 

 unfavorable, also a tropical climate with 

 its accompanying heat and dampness. 

 li is also quite as sensitive to cold. Itwill 

 i iot hear well where severe frosts occur, 

 at midwinter, as the leaves and branches 

 are killed when the mercury reaches' 

 fourteen degWles above zero. 



In southern Europe, where the condi- 

 aie favorable, olive culture is a 

 piuirked feature of industry among their 

 jilt-use population. 



In Italy, Spain and the south part of 

 France eight million acres are devoted 

 to this industry, producing one hundned 

 and sixty million gallons of oil, besides a 

 large amount of olives in barrels for ex- 

 port. This business in southern France 

 is considered very lucrative. The well- 

 to-do farmer makes oil or prepares the 

 i'rnit for domestic or foreign market, 

 'while in many parts of Spain and Italy 

 poor are largely dependent upon 

 their olive trees for their support. When' 

 coin | ''led to sell their homesteads, when- 

 ever it is possible, they reserve their 

 olive trees. 



.Court of this belt on the Mediterra- 

 nean, between Genoa and Naples, we 

 can duplicate on this coast from Point 

 Conception to San Diego. Our sea breeze 

 .is much stronger, carrying its vitalizing 

 power farther inland, penetrating the 

 nearest valleys as at San Fernando 

 :. nd thus making the area of cultivation 

 much more extensive. We cannot of 

 e, now. u'ive a definite estimate of 

 mie area of this belt on the Pacific coast 

 i \\hert! olive culture will give profitable 



Wit We leel sure, judging Irom 



f results of the work done at Santa 

 bura, San Diego, San Fernando, and 

 n what we have done here and at 

 | other points, that we have heie a true 

 "olive belt, side by side with that devoted 

 jto the orange, the raisin and the fig. 



Now, if the conditions here are favor- 

 fable to success, and we know the amount 

 'jof imports in fruit and oil, have we not 

 the motives for extension in doing some 

 thing for ourselves, and in providing the 

 means to save the large amount of money 

 gent to southern Europe for these pro- 

 ducts? 



Many of our own producers thought 

 we could never compete successfully with 

 he Mediterranean oranges in the mar- 

 kets of our Eastern cities, but that fallacy 

 bas been destroyed by our shipment's 

 this year, through the Orange Growers' 

 Union. 

 It has been demonstrated that 



THK HEST KIND OF OUVK Oil, 



Can be produced here, bring a price in 

 market highly satisfactory to the pro- 

 lucer, and when the plantations are large 

 inough it can be made in abundance to 

 supply the demand in the market of our' 

 whole country. 



But again it is said we can not cure 

 olives to supply the demand in market 

 when brought in competition with those 

 "rom abroad. Our answer is, we have 

 made a good beginning and we can im- 

 irove, as we have in the process of cur- : 

 ng raisins. 



There are men still living, who looked 

 in with incredulity, when the first efforts 

 n the raisin industry were made in Kiver- 

 side ; but who will go to-day through the 

 lextensive factories there, and not be conr 

 vineed of the ability of the people to cuM 

 raisins. So it will be in curing olives^it 

 can be done, and well done too, by the 

 producer who will work carefully and in- 

 telligently until he masters his business. 

 T^his work can also be done by co-opera- 

 tion in factories, where skilled labor is 

 employed. 

 I have been requested to give 



SOME PRACTICAL DETAILS, 



.ccording to my own observation and ex*4 

 crienee. My iirst effort in olive culture 

 as made in 1876, when I planted twenty 

 rell-rooted cuttings of the Mission va- 

 iety, giving them all necessary care and 

 ttention they made a very rapid growth, 

 nd in 188-1, gave the first full crop of 

 ruit. Selecting two of the largest and 

 nest trees, kept a careful account of the 

 erries and when all were taken from the 

 rees in February, I found the amount to 

 e seventy-five gallons. These olives 

 after being prepared for the table were 

 etailed by two of our merchants in Po- 

 mona for seventy-live dollars. I sold my 

 crop in this way by the barrel, for sev- 

 enty-five cents per gallon. For three or 

 four years previous to 1884, I had been 

 making experiments and reading every- 

 thing I could find, explaining or giving 

 direction in the curing process. Being 

 thus prepared, when the full crop came 

 1 was able to handle it without loss, and 

 put it upon the market at a very satisfac- 

 tory price. This curing process is effect- 

 ed with alkali, water and salt. A thor- 

 ough knowledge can only be obtained by 

 working with a person who has mastered 

 his business. 



The same trees which bore so heavily 

 in 1884are now bending under the weight 

 of fruit, requiring numerous supports to 

 keep the limbs from breaking. I have 

 been oll'ered 



KK.IITY CENTS A GALLON 



For all that I can prepare for market. 

 Mr. K. T. Palmer, of Pomona, in connec- 

 tion with his preserving and crystallizing 

 business, bottles the olives and sends 

 them to the large cities on this coast and 

 alsojjnto the Territories Kast. 



My trees are planted upon gravelly 

 mesa mnd, and did not require water un- 

 til they bore a full crop, and very little 

 then, applied when the crop began to ' 

 jcolor. Be it well understood that they 

 have a good soil and thorough cultivation. 



Irrigation required by the orange would 

 prove highly injurious to the olive. It does 



Hot do well = ir:ldeil, HI fTTP lea-l b\- other' 



;rees, and as we know it lives for centur- 

 ies and attains a great size, we should 

 jive it ample room for expansion, I should 

 say from thirty-three to forty feet apart 

 would be a proper distance on rich hill 

 sides, found along the base of the moun- 

 tains from Pasadena to San Bernardino. 

 The olive will find a congenial home and 

 in return for .care and attention will bless 

 the husbandmen in "basket and in 

 [store." 



So far the Mission olive holds its own 

 for making oil and also for pickling. The 

 Franciscan Fathers knew what they were 

 about when selecting this variety from 

 all those in cultivation in Spain. Itwill 

 be a difficult matter for us to improve 

 upon their choice for oil or pickles. My 

 neighbor, Mr. E. E. White, has thirty 

 varieties growing in his nursery ; only 

 one has yielded fruit up to this date. 

 We shall watch the fruiting of these trees 

 with great interest. The tree bearing 

 fruit this year came to Mr. White labeled 

 "Picholine," or Oleo, Oblonga. I am 

 quite sure it is a misnomer, as it answers 

 jfully the catalogue description of the l,-n 

 \Subtratunda, being very small, perfectly, 

 'round, and intensely bitter, ripening itsT 

 fruit now October 15th, while the Mis-} 

 sion is still green, showing no sign oft 

 color. If thie tree bearing this small 

 fruit is sold by our nurserymen for the 

 Picholine, it will result in great disap- . 

 pointment, as it is entirely too small for 

 pickling. It is used in France for oil. 



Our nurserymen are charging from 

 twenty-five cents to one dollar a tree, 

 according to size, age and variety ; plant- 

 ing thirty-three feet apart, forty trees to 

 each acre would be required. 



If desired, I will give, in a succeeding 

 number of the RURAL, directions for pre- 

 paring olives for domestic use according 

 to the Spanish method, discharging the 

 bitterness by water alone. 



And now-, Mr. Editor, in concluding 

 this letter, I will only add that my high- 

 est wishes will be gratified if anything 

 has been written that will awaken 

 thought and interest in this matter of 

 olive . culture. Strangers are coining 

 among us to make new homes, and a 

 word in season will sometimes help ma- 

 terially in directing attention to the new 

 forms of industry peculiar to this coast. 

 C. F. LOOP. 



An IiUorowtifis: Kay froum. Praoi-a: 

 Man. ! J- 



iKural California!!. 



[ From the earliest days the olive has 



been invested with a peculiar interest. 



Originating in the distant East, where, 

 tradition locales that earthly paradise, 

 the Garden of Eden, it has remained 

 ,here to sustain, satisfy and gladden suc- 

 essive generations, and also been carried 

 iy man as something essential to his 

 :omfort 'and pleasure, through all his 

 wanderings and journeys westward, even 

 to our own fair land upon the shores of 

 the western sea. (& 



I The olive and its product, oil, figure 

 most prominently in the sacred writings. 

 The tree is frequently referred to as 



AN KMIILEJIOF HB.UTY, 



Whether clothed in its profusion of white 

 flowers in springtime, or in its evergreen 

 foliage in winter. Again is it presented 

 as an emblem of profusion and gladness 

 when its branches are bending with fruit 

 ready for the harvest. By Divine direc- 

 tion olive-wood was used in constructing 

 [certain parts of the temple at Jerusalem, 

 'while its. oil was made a. constituent part 

 ! of the offerings of the Mosaic ritual, and 

 was also used in consecrating II 

 kings and priests to their high ollices. In 

 the literature of the Eastern empire, 

 especially Mythology, we also find the 

 olive frequently mentioned. Sacred to 

 Minerva, it was to the polished Greek of 

 that early day an emblem of peace and 



