r the old trees of the San Fen. 

 Mission, owing to a legal, r tnl. 



ahout the land on which 

 were neglected for about ten years am 

 tef unprvmed, while the land was lef 

 untiled Still the grand old trees mam 

 tained their living, but with limit* 



fr Abont throe vrars ngo, when the tiU, 

 was settled. l>. Cazanave took charfre d 

 the grounds and plowed them thor 



loi?^wK^ re 

 s^^/Ssnir'issss: 



i' 

 fi 



ing branches of these anc-ient .trees the 

 ^fruit is now bronzing under the sunny 

 skv of San Fernando, and next month 

 will furnish 10,000 gallons of olives for 

 oil or pickles, as may bo desired by the 

 owner. *v. 



; Mr Cazanave is now building on th 

 new San Fernando colony grounds the 

 largest olive oil factory in the State, so 

 that he can use uj) all the olives grown 

 in Southern California. The right of 

 these ancient trees with their rewaru.ng, 

 frulbshould be an incentive to others 

 topnint this kind of fruit on the warm 

 high mesas where scalebugs never come 

 and the crops never- fail, and the tree 

 outranks Methuseleh and bears fruu 

 for a thoi^and y< 



ILIVK ('! I/1TKF, 



Exceeding'ly Promising Branch of 

 Horticulture. 



- 



Eepecinlly Adapted to the Sari 1 Joaqulii 

 Valley Already Extensively In- 

 troduced In Tulare County. 



&-- fa 



"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 of Greece, 

 Italv, France, Spain and the Islands of 

 thn Mediterranean, and the extent to 

 which it is grown will probably be a 

 cause of surprise to those who havq 

 iven little thought to the matter. Iij 

 Italy alone, which has a total areaol 

 114,000 square miles, considerably less 

 than Calfornia, not leas than 2,225,OOC 

 acres are devoted to the cultivation ol 

 the olive. An :->feriqr variety of the 

 fruit was first planted along the coast ol 

 California by the Spanish padres whr 



iished the mission aettlemente to^ 

 w:\rcl the close of the last century or 

 parly part of the present. They were 

 never planted in large numbers in any 

 place but were found to grow' admirably 

 and bear well, and their cultivation was 

 found to be quite profitable in later 



-. The Mission olhe is a good one 

 on which to graft better varieties, of 

 which there are many, but should not 

 be planted with any other object in 

 view. In some nurseries in the southern 

 part of the State are more than thirty 

 varieties, most of which are preferable to 

 the Mission. During the past twenty 

 years, and more particularly during the 

 last ten, the cultivation of this fruit has 

 received considerable attention from ex- 

 perienced and intelligent horticulturists, 

 and is now developing into an impor-, 

 tant industry. The few groves that are : 

 hearing are proving themselves more 

 profitable than any other kind of fruit, 

 nd there is no dottbt that ere many 

 years the olive will figure as one of the 



important products of California. 



Ali/THI) TO 'flllO TSTTERTOK. 



!' The character of the tree, meihods of 

 cultivation and of preparing tile fruii 

 for market, are little understood, and 

 many erroneous ideas .regarding it pre- 

 vail. For instance, it is t night by 

 many that it will not thrive- when far 

 removed from the sea coast. It does 

 not in the countries pf southern Europe, 

 where it is mainly grown, because the 

 valley or hill lands between the sea 

 shore and the mountains in those 

 countries occupy a narrow belt, and 

 the mountains rise peroipitously 

 height where the cold of winter , 

 great for them to live. In California 

 the topographical peculiarities and 

 mildness of climate make it possible to 

 grow these trees much farther from the 

 sea and at a greater altitude than in 

 Europe. During a long term of years 

 these trees have been grown as 

 ornaments in many counties-.of this 

 State, and seem to grow to perfection in 

 the mountains surrounding the upper 

 Sacramento valley, from the iruit of| 

 which an excellent quality of oil has 

 been produced. They are growing 

 to-day in nearly every county of cen-^ 

 ral and southern California, and those 

 who have had experience with them 

 are preparing to engage more largely in 

 their cultivation. They were first 

 planted in the San Joaqnin valley 

 about fifteen years ago, and began to 

 bear at an early "age ; and it may not be 

 k'nown to many readers of the DELTA 

 that there are more of these trees grow- 

 ing in Tulare than in any other of the 

 counties in or bordering upon the valley 

 of the San .Toaquin, yet such is the case. 

 ''They have been tried in the prairie 

 lands and in the foothills, and the suc- 

 cess met with in their cultivation in 

 both is such as to encourage oar oreh-j 

 ardists to plant then, more largely, for| 

 have many things to recommend i 

 hem. They will grow on stony foothill 

 [lands, too sterile to produce any othei 

 fruit tree, or crop of any kind, but will, 

 of course, yield more on better land. 

 The current idea thit one must live n 

 lifetime to gather the first crop from a 

 newly-planted orchard, is erroneous. 

 The seeds are slow to germinate, and 

 the young trees require close attention 

 for two or three years before they are 

 !it in their places in the orchard, 

 and in Italy it was sometimes forty or 

 fifty years before the trees came into full 

 bearing. lu California they are propa- 

 gated from cuttings, and as early as tin 

 third year in the orchard a single tree 

 has been known to bear 1000 olives, but 

 this is far above the average. At five 

 years of age they "become quite profit- 

 able, and when seven years old and 

 ever after yield abundantly. They arc- 

 long lived and grow to immense size. 

 In Italy there are olive trees said 

 one' thousand years old. 



J'J.AXTIXi;. 



When first planted about one hundred 

 are Wt out on each acre, and ii". 

 necessary in after years they can be 

 thinned out. The wood is durable and 

 ily prized. On stony hill land they 

 planted farther apart; and when 

 planted in consociation with ,urapc 



viuls that the laud ma.> be made pro- 

 ductive before the trees come into bear- 

 ingthey are s& sixty to 

 ,|,art, witli rows of grape vinos bet-' 

 Vs tl,, -rease in si/.e the vine?. 



are-removed. In California the aveiage 

 t aere is about one hundred. 

 ihered usually from X<>- 

 ntiary, or later. When 

 pickled whole they are divided into 

 different grades, and will,, average 

 .-eventy-five cents per gallon in value, 

 and are usually put up in barrels. The 

 best are worth -41.25 per gallon. It 

 made into oil the olives are crushed 

 oughly and pressed. Water 

 Kdded, when they are again nn - 

 and a second quality made. They are 

 pressed a third time making a thin 

 I quality, and a fourth grade is also made 

 In Italy the residue is pressed into brick 

 and used for fuel, but in California thi 

 is unnecessary. The oil is worth aboti 

 $5 per gallon, and the receipts froiv : 

 California olive grove reach as high a 

 $2,000 per acre. But with a yield o 

 200 gallons to the acre (which is a sinal 

 a mount) valued at $5 per gallon, th 

 returns from each acre would amonn 

 to $1000. In Italy occasional cold year* 

 blast the crop and in some instances de 

 stroy the trees, but in California 

 from this source would be unknown. 1 

 the interior of California they shou 

 also be free from the ravages of n 

 pests or diseases. And when ntla 

 the trees may be cut back to the stump 

 from which will shoot a new and healtb> 

 growth. In France it is calculated tha 

 aboqt 1,250 gallons may be produce! 

 each year from an acre. In California 

 with a more even climate and more fer 

 til soil the yield should be much larger 

 There is no likelihood of over pro 

 duction, for there is a comparative! 

 limited portion of the world adapted t 

 the cultivation of the olive, the demam 

 for which is increasing constantly. Th 

 olive crop of France is worth $100,000,000. 

 annually. The United States import 

 from Europe 500,000 gallons yearly 

 on which is paid a duty of $600,000. 



To speak of the methods of cultiva 

 tion, preparing the fruit for the market 

 making the oil, the expense and profits 

 etc., will not be attempted in thepresen 

 article, but the DELTA will have moie u 

 say concerning the olive in future issuei 

 for some day, certainly, this valuabl 

 and beautiful tree will be largely growi 

 in California, and should be in '! 

 county. 



OLIVE CULTURE. 



Interesting Essay by Rev. C. 

 F. Loop, Pomona. 



WHAT AN EYE-WITNESS SAW 



In Italy and France Statistics of 



the Industry In These 



Countries. 



From the earliest days the olive has 

 nt? m ste . d ^J th * Peculiar interest. 

 Originating in the distant East, where 

 tradition locates that earthly paradise, 

 the Garden of Eden, it has remained there 

 to sustain, satisfy and gladden successive 

 generations, and also been carried by man 



as 80mthin<r Monntial to his CO11 



