Olive Culture and Experiments in 

 Southern California. 



Experiments of Frank A. Kimball, 

 National City, demonstrate cuttings 

 "should be kept -iMint, not it-ft, too much 

 moisture being far worse than too little." 

 Cut liihbs in every month from Decem- 

 ber to July; find little difference in re- 

 sult" a few cut in June last now a foot 

 high took 21 cuttings from a limb in full 

 bloom not one failed good cuttings 

 finely planted and well cared for should 

 at least turn out 90 per cent. 



Mr. P. Pohndorff, of N'apa county, 

 "comparing olives grown in five counties, 

 although an earlier degree of maturity 

 distinguishes those of the southern coun- 

 ties," says, "the fact seems patent that all 

 belong to Content* Contfcabta family, 

 and leaf-shape of fruit aud seed show au 

 ''arity to .the !'-" Kurujifn 

 Ci - ... "" '", as it is called by 

 Clemente, and Olfti AJornta by Kos; 

 while in France it is named Liujm'se, or 

 It Litqne.t, this latter appellation indicat- 

 ing its origin or propagation from the 

 Italian olive region of l.ucca. It is a a<nl 

 on fruit and the oil is of the best grown iu 

 Central Spain. The tree is probably of all 

 the genus, that which requires most de- 

 grees of heat to ripen its fruit. It resists 

 cold; requires good cultivation and ma- 

 nure; loose soil ventilation. Pruning 

 ought to be done with care and discern- 

 ment." 



In reviewing the many disadvantages 

 and drawbacks to the above named 

 varieties, he claims the introduction of 

 later importations that arfr -free from all; 

 objections mature. " works only from 

 March to October or beginning of Novem- 

 ber, yields a larger, liner fruit for oil or 

 pickling, treble the si/.e of the Cvrnicabi-a, 

 requires less time and heat for their pro- 

 pagation and many other advantages, but 

 ioes not specify what variety it is. Time 

 will demonstrate." 



F. A. Kimball in a letter to the Los 

 Angeles Herald says, have -'planted olive 

 cuttings every year since 1870: Began 

 with cuttings three feet long; finding no 

 signs of growth at the .proper time, dug, 

 \ threw up, and sawed about one-third the 

 length from top end, which had become 

 dry, and about the same from the bottom, 

 which had rotted, and planted the balance 

 , all under ground aud got good trees. 

 Have tried all lengths for cuttings, but 

 prefer them ten inches; plant them with 

 tops an inch or two out of the ground and 

 about thirty inches between rows; the 

 "arth thrown up in making trenches will 

 cover tops. For orchard planting make 

 baisin about two feet in diameter and say 

 I tl- r inches deep, with cutting in the 

 1 center and about level with bottom of the 

 I baisin, covering the top three or four 

 inches with earth, and three or four irri- 

 gations during the summer with'the earth 

 finely pulverized after each irrigation." 



The San Francisco (Jrocrr untl (.'unner 

 in speaking of olive oils says: " Knough 

 has been done by Cooper, of Santa 15ar- 

 bara, the Kimballs, of San Diego, and the 

 Wolfskills, of Solano, in the culture of the 

 olive to demonstrate that the tree thrives 

 well in California, and hence to establish 

 the fact that it is a profitable tree to culti- 

 vate. The trees begin to bear at three 

 years, and when five years old will pay 

 all expenses of tilling and harvesting, 

 with a surplus, while the sixth year the 

 crop will pay for the land, the trees and 

 the tillage for the five years previous, and 

 with good care the increase is large from 

 year to year for a century longer. Indeed, 

 there are trees in Asia Minor known to be 

 1200 years old and still in full bearing. 



There are larm'i-arciix 'if land in California trees ai 1 '. always 1 

 well adapted to the growth of the olive, 

 for this tree does not need irrigation. It 

 demands warm land, and will not flourish 

 in moist soil. In the pamphlet published 

 by Kllwood Cooper, of Santa Barbara, the 

 statement is made that some of his best 

 trees, eight years old, produced two thou- 

 sand gallons of berries to the acre, and 



the European standard is eight gallons of istljen to 

 berries to one of oil, which gives a 1"'' | ot earth 

 duct of two hundred and fifty gallons of] ' 



The oil finds a ready market * 



first year. 



bnt they an: more easily propagate'] by 

 cuttings abont two and a half feet in length. 

 These aw t in the earth in a hole made 

 with a sharp iron bar to the depth of about 

 tw<:aty inches. After the cutting is placed 

 in the hole the latter should be tilled with 

 water, which tit the earth completely 

 around the foot of the cutting. The hole 



oil per acre. 



at #o per gallon, which gives an income of 



81,2.30 per acre for the best eight-year old 



loosely and a moi ml 

 sly around the cut- 

 ._,, and kept there the 

 It sometimes happens that he 



trees in an exceptionally good year. The 

 ', net income from such a crop would not be 

 i less than $1,000 per acre, and there can be 

 j no doubt that Mr. Cooper's statement is 

 I correct, for he has no motive for decep- 

 tion, and is of such probity of character 

 that his word is never questioned." 

 Quoting from our remarks of December ( 

 the 8th: "It has been very generally j catting is 

 stated and universally believed that the jgP>>.rs. 

 olive would not flourish away from the 

 coast; that the interior valleys did not 

 furnish the climate conducive to a proflt- 



cutting will not grow the first year at all, 

 Vint will start out the second year quite 



rigorously. The tree needs but Uttl 

 moisture where there are copious winter 

 raing. In dry climates about four times a 

 ; year would be often enough to irrigate the 

 | olive plant. The trees do not bear trans- 

 i portatiou very well, and many of them 

 jiiie in consequence of removal; but the 



able fruitage of the olive, although the 



tree would grow well here, and hence but 



% 'pttOjten they 



need several irrigations during the tirst 

 nummer. They are planted like other 

 trees. Hut their roots are extremely sen- 



sitive and need especial care while being 



trnplant*a 



A 



frw tb< nursery to th or- 



few trees have been planted in Kiversido jchard. The tree Hifurs usually in from 

 or other interior settlements. This prop- 'five to seven yearn after plantjftg tiora th^ 

 ositlon is now being contradicted with cutting aud in from four to six years from 

 good evidence. Olive trees in Riverside planted trees. In regard to the cost of 

 are now getting of good age and bearing : tre8, the latter will be referred to nur- 



finely. E. W. Holmes has a good crnp of 

 olives on his trees; so has Mr. Lockwood 

 and some others. Mr. Holmes has pickled 

 a quantity of olives that are flue. He puts 

 them up in bulk. Mr. Lockwood has as 

 yet only a small crop, but he has com- 

 menced putting in bottles, and san ,Vrs 

 we have seen show a finely put vip fiilit 

 that can only be produced by skillful 

 treatment. The olives pickled by him are 

 superior to the imported, in that they a v 

 not pickled so green and hence are iiii 

 nutritious, and yet they are green enough 

 to retain their green color, which im- 

 proves the market value over the riper 

 and darker colored fruit. The Kimball 

 olives have always stood high in the 

 market. The olive requires less water 

 and less care than most of other fruits. 

 There are many places, therefore, where 

 the olive will do well where there is not 

 enough water for some other kinds of 

 fruit. It takes longer to bring an olive 

 orchard into bearing than it does the 

 apricot, peach, grape or budded orange; it 

 is more like the seedling orange in this 



serymen to respond. If the cuttings are 

 large the top should be protected by a 

 coating of wax or clay to prevent being 

 dried out by the sunshine. The tree will 

 hear for two thousand years, or more, and 



' A CHAPTER OX OLIVES. S 

 A Hardy Plant I>eI1cIons Oil Ilia- 



Herald, writing; 



live 



tious: 



"If olive trees 

 Mil, and if a little fro*t in winfe^fllH^kill 

 them? Will the olive grow wliere the cr- 

 inge will not on account 'oi ths frostl 

 Where can young trees be bought and 

 what would be the cost? Are they planted 

 hesmeas peach and other fruit trees, 

 *cd how long before they will bear?" 

 I The Herald replies as follows: Olive 

 trees will grow in sandy soil or rocky 

 land, or gravelly loam, or clayey loam of a 

 rtiff character, but do not thrive or beai 

 well in damp noil. They bear more hf-avi 

 ly on upland *han low land that is often 

 covered by fog. In the latter locality the 

 black scale-bug is likely to infest the tree. 

 The olive is more hardy than the orange, 

 and grows where there are quite severe 

 frosts. In such cases the trees should be 

 protected by cornstalks, which permit a 

 circulation of air aud admit light, and at 

 the same time they protoct the leaves from 

 frost. This for the first year only. The 



l i<'aftl*! . _ . 



v-"!^* i- 7 / % 4 



There existed formerly in ttfese'is- 

 lands on army of which it was said 

 that it could "go anywhere and do 

 anything." The olive is the living 

 vegetable counterpart &f this extinct 

 phenomenon. Within certain lati- 

 tudes it will grow anywhere and serve 

 for almost every purpose. On a dry 

 and stony eleva'tion that would starve 

 put a thistle the plant luxuriates; and 

 if the sea breezes may but fan the 

 young shoots, so much more of prom- 

 ise is there for the olive harvest. 

 Propagated chiefly by cuttings, the 

 willowy looking twigs take root with 

 a proud defiance of ordinary limita- 

 tions, and there is a whimsically 

 planted grove of olive trees of un- 

 usual size and beauty near the town 

 of Messa, in Morocco, which illus- 

 trates this trait in a remarkable way. 

 One of the kings of the 

 dynasty, of Saddia, being on a 

 military expedition, encamped here 

 with his army. The pegs with which 

 the cavalry picketed their horses 

 were cut from the olives in their 

 neighborhood, and some sudden 

 cause of alarm leading to the aban- 

 donment of the position, the pog.v 

 were left in the ground, and making 

 the best of the situation, developed 

 into the handsomest group of olive 

 trees in the district. ^Olives are men- 

 tioned in the earnests records of 

 Egypt, and their introduction into 

 Greece took place as early as 1,500 

 years before our era. Thence their 

 cultivation naturally passed into 

 Italy, theKomans especially prizing 

 them, while Virgil mentions three dis- 

 tinct varieties, each of which had its 

 own fastidious supporters in the an- 

 cient conflict of tastes. Pliny tells 

 ns that they also grew in the heart of 

 Spain and France, though he awards 

 the palm to the smaller olive oi Syria, 

 the oil of which was at least more del- 

 icate than that produced in the west- 

 ern countries. So far as regards the 

 oil of Spain, and, to <i certain extent, 

 that of Italy, this judgment holds 

 good to the present time, for the rea- 

 son tluvt tho Spanish olive 



