

chastity. In reading Plutarch's lives oi 

 the great men whose names have been 

 preserved, we find that when the people 

 wished to bestow the highest honor upon, 

 their favorite, the investiture was mad- 

 by publicly placing upon the brows of the 

 candidate a crown wrought of the sprays 

 of the olive. And in the celebrated Olym- 

 pic games, amidst the acclamation of the 

 multitudes of spectators, this was be- 

 stowed as the highest prize with which 

 to crown the victor with glory and rever- 

 ence. And in time of war, when the 

 vanquished wished to approach his pow- 

 erful opponent, he carried an olive branch 

 as a token symbol of a peaceful disposi- 

 tion. When we make 



A CRITICAL STUDY OK THE OLIVE 



We find it distinguished for its great 

 longevity and its wonderful usefulness to 

 men. In respect to longevity it ranks the 

 orange, although the famous tree in the 

 garden of the Vatican in Home is said, 

 upon good authority to be a thousand 

 years old. A high degree of reverence is 

 awakened when we see the photographs 

 of those noted olive trees of Syria and 

 Palestine, still standing as monuments of 

 the dead past, spreading their green 

 branches to the summer sun, 'and invit- 

 ing the weary traveler now, as they did 

 Titus and his Koman legions, to rest in 

 their grateful shade. 



It is reasonable to suppose that a 

 tree, living on in 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 

 Fast . Some are mentioned having a di- 

 .ameterof fifteen feet at the ground. This 



GREAT TENACITY OF LIFE 



Permits a treatment which would kill an 

 ordinary fruit tree. If its leaves and 

 branches have become infested with smut 

 or insects, the entire head can be cut 

 away, 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 cabinet work. At the Cape of Good 

 Hope, on account of its hardness and i 

 strength, it is called iron-wood. In China 

 ;the flowers of the fragrant olive are used 

 ifor flavoring tea. 



Till-: OLIVE KELT OF THE WORLD 



Is quite extensive. Ki-^iniiiiig with its 

 home in Asia it extends westward, in- 

 cluding parts of the northern coast of 

 Africa, Southern Europe, a part of the' 



coast of Australia and the southern coast 

 of California. 



Its true home is a seuii-tropicai cli- 

 mate, and go where you will along this 

 belt you find it within hailing iV; lance of 

 the sea. From three to ton miles cover- 

 ing the foothills, and sometimes along 

 the Mediterranean it is planted near th 

 water edge. There are exceptions to this 

 rule; at Damascus it is in a flourishing 

 conditions fifty miles from the sea. Tho 

 extreme }-catof the interior valleys ia 

 unfavorable, also a tropical climate with 

 i's accompanying heat and dampness. 

 It is also quite as sensitive to cold. It willi 



.not bear well where severe frosts occur' 

 at midwinter, as the leaves and brandies 

 are killed when the mercury reaches 

 fourteen degrees above zero. 



in southern Europe, where the condi- 

 tions are favorable, olive culture is a 



marked feature oi industry among their 

 dense population. 



In Italy, Spain and the south part of 

 France eight million acres are devoted 

 to this industry, producing one hundred 

 and sixty milion 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 

 fruit for domestic or foreign market, 

 while in many parts if Spain and Italy 

 the poor are lagely dependent upon 

 their olive trees for their support. When 

 compelled to sell their homesteads, when- 

 ever it is possible, they reserve their 

 olive trees. 



A part of this belt on the Mediterra- 

 nean, beteen 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- 

 arid thus making the area of cultivation 

 much more extensive. We cannot of 

 course, now, give a definite estimate of 

 the area of this belt on the Pacific coast 

 where olive culture will give profitable 

 returns, but we feel sure, judging from 

 the results of the work done at Santa 

 Barbara, San Diego, San Fernando, and 

 from what we have done here and at 

 other points, that we have here a true 

 olive belt, side by side with that devoted 

 to the orange, the rasia and the fig. 



Now, if the conditions here are favor- 

 able to success, and we know the amount 

 of imports in fruit and oil, have we not 

 ithe motives for extension in doing some- 

 thing for ourselves, and in providing the 

 means to save the largj amount of money 

 sent to southern Europe for these prc* 

 ducts ? 



1 1 iVno^ynCr^>r^oyT!Very t 'Mn*aii -o 

 woman, who is the oWiier of land, miri 

 or less, to plant the Oriental olive. Th< 

 .olive grows freely anywhere in (lie !Sac 

 ramento valley and foothills, iiutMhis 

 planting has already ceased to be an ex- 

 periment. Tin; olive is now grown in 

 hundreds of i'anners and amateurs, and 

 it has been demonstrated to a certabiU 

 that an acre of olives will net the growei 

 more dollars per acre than any other fruit 

 in this State. The oil commands a com- 

 mercial demand at a high figure. It is 

 neither bulky or perishable like peaches, 

 pears, grapes and oranges. The trans- 

 portation on $1,000 worth of oil is tri- 

 fling in comparison with other fruits. 

 Pickled olives are also . heaply marketed, 

 imperishable, and pay well for pickling. 

 It is no more work to put up olives than 

 small cucumbers, am} in the jar they 

 command a very remunerative price. 

 , The olive being an evergreen, it is not 

 only useful and profitable but ornamen- 

 tal. There are a number of olive trees 

 growing thriftily in this city which j|^M 

 planted purely for ornamental purpoJH 

 Those trees demonstrate the fact that 

 they will grow hereabouts, and bear 

 heavily. It grows with a shapely top 

 and its green foliage renders it sightly 

 and attractive. If its culture was en- 

 tered into largely it would furnish to the 

 laboring masses, as it does in Kurope, a 

 healthy substitute for both butter and 

 meat. : i;, (he poorest rocky 



aio* 



tr^P 



soil, and with lens cave and cultivatio 



almost any other nut or I'r.iit tr. 

 It >-rows as r"adily from cutJRfes as the 

 iiu'. and the first cost of tre. in there- 

 fore nominal, When hearing the . 



i 



fjf f ' +^xant Mariu 



. V.a were shown yesterday a sample ot olivas 

 from Mr. Selbi's orchard, near the Mission of 

 Santa Vines, that would be hard to beat in any 

 country. The orchard is only tlirne yeara old, yet 

 it ie bearing a good crop. "lr. . W. Lewis brought 

 ns the frnit and he enye that A. M. Boyd has i 

 tine one-year-old orchard of epvoral thousand 

 trees all growing well, nd will plant <>nt forty 

 acres more the coming season. Mr. D'ljrb<m wii 

 also put ont twenty acres to this fri. 

 season near the town of Ballarde. ' -'/ ' 



Itiverside Orange 



p. 



'ohnson paid $8000 for a forty-acre tract 

 if land which was planted to orchard, 

 /ineyard and alfalfa. On his place are 

 1500 Muscat vines, some of which wen 

 jlanted after he bought the place. They, 

 yielded 1650 boxes of raisins this year ' 

 ind 1200 boxes last year. He has an 

 orange orchard in partial bearing o) , 

 fifteen acres, we believe. He has been 

 offered $8000 for his crop this season 

 the same amount that he IWid for his 

 whole. place six years ago. fo / f. 



A. J. Twogood last sffring sold bis- 

 home place to Mr. Hewittson for the 

 sum of $27,000. A portion of the place 

 was planted to orange trees, but some of 

 them were not yet in bearing, and an- 

 other was only in light bearing. About 

 six acres, we believe, were what might 

 be considered in good bearing, and now 

 the owner expects' to take $10,000 for his 

 orange crop on the trees. He has been 

 offered $8)00, but declines the offer. 

 Thus, in six month's time he gts back 

 one-third of his purchase price from a 

 single crop, and has his place left ready 

 to grow and increase in value and get 

 ready to come into full bearing. 



Again we ask, what are , orchards 

 worth in Kiverside ? Riverside Press. 



OLIVE CULTURE. 



, An Exceedingly Promising Branch of 

 Horticulture. 



Kspeclally Adapted to the San Joaquln 

 Valley Already Extensively In- 

 troduced In Tulare County. 



7^^-^-Js^ 



"An olive plantation," says an old 

 Italian proverb, "is a gold mine on the 

 surface of the earth." For centuries it 

 has been an important product ofGreece, 

 Italy, France, Spain and the Islands of 

 the Mediterranean, and the extent to 

 which it is grown will probably be a 

 cause of surprise to those who have 

 given little thought to the matter. In 

 Italy aloue, which has a total area of 

 114,000 square miles, considerably loss 

 than Calfornia, not less than 2,225,000 

 acres are devoted to the cultivation of 

 the olive. An inferior variety of the" 

 fruit was first planted along the coast of 

 California by the Spanish padres who 

 established the mission settlements to- 

 ward the close of the last century or 

 early part of the present. They were 

 never '' -..ed ia large numbers in any 

 place but v.ere found to grow admirably 

 and bear Well, and their cultivation was 

 found to be <fMte profitable in later 

 years. The Mission olive is a good on, 



