10 la.'t SrxiMY CniiONiri.E thrrc 



'scnte'i mi interesting array of 



oncerning tha cultivation of the 



orange and the lemon in California. A 



pofflplete summary was Riven of what 



.:en accomplished since the first 



desultory experiment.-) were made in 



'the production of those fruits upon a 



'reial basis, and much that was 



:id interesting was brought out. 



In this issue sketches are given of thu 



know nothing of the great develop- 

 ment going ou her or at best have 

 the most vague idea of it. For these 

 the subjoined chapter.) will be found 

 full of interest and worthy of more 

 than passing notice. 



THE OLIVE. 



Frnit Which Is llpidly Becom- 

 ing R General Favorite. 

 The olive, like the grape, has occu- 

 pied a prominent place in the history 

 of the human race from the earliest 

 times. The Bible, as well as all other 

 ancient history, is filled with references 

 to the olive and its producti, and it re- 

 quires no great stretch of the imagina- 

 tion to believe that this tree was fore- 

 most among those which were given to 

 mankind in the Garden o! Eden at the 

 creation, with the command from God: 

 " Behold, I have given you every herb 

 bearing seed which is upon the face of 

 all the earth, and every tree in the 

 which is the iruit of a tree yielding 

 seed ; to you it shall be for meat." 



The supposition that the olive was 

 one of the earliest and most favored 

 fruits of the human race, and that its 



i that has been made in the | cultivation became widely extended is 



teuHivalion of the olivo and the fig. 

 Although the introduction of these 

 \YBS coincident with tht of the 

 ', not so much has been accom- 

 1 in the extension of their culti- 

 Nevertheless a great deal of 

 and experiment has been de- 

 to both branches of horticulture, 

 : SJA conservative but far-see rig men 

 re now of the opinion Hint in 

 Be olive and the fig California 

 31 ere long find a source of 

 ^^Hht second to none other. Re- 

 vkable success has attended tin- 

 -.'.ion of both these fruits, and 

 in th;j history of fruit-growing 

 6n this coast baa there been such a 

 general interest taken therein or so ex- 

 ( an area devoted for the first 

 io their production. For these 

 is tho present is an opportune 

 ur presenting as briefly as possi- 

 jtateuieut of the demonstrated 

 n relation thereto, both for the 

 ^Krmation of thoae already partially 

 BEilur with the subject and for tho 



further attested by the fact tnat when, 

 after the flood, Noah sent out the dove, 

 in order to ascertain the situation of 

 affairs outside, the bird brought back 

 in its beak a freshly plucked olivo leal. 



In this connection it is of inter- 

 est to note that the olive has the 

 honor of being one of the two fruits 

 that are first noticed by name in the 

 ]<ii;l, and that all through, the an- 

 nuls of the prophets, as well as of 

 the Now To.-tament writers, frequent 

 rices are made to it. Next tu the 

 olive and the fig in this respect is the 

 grape, and it is evident that, so far as 

 this era is concerned. Noah was the 

 pioneer in the cultivation of those 

 fruits, just as he was of the vine. 



From that period down to the present 

 tir.ie the olive has never lost ils hold 

 on the affections of the people of thoae 

 countries where it is at homo. There 

 are millions living to-day whose chief 



figures with reference . to the area de- 

 . voted to the cultivatihn of this tree 

 The shores of the Mediterranean have - 

 from the very earli.-st commencement ' 

 been the center of the world's olive 

 orchards. Bpain is the lending coun- ' 

 try in this branch of horticulture, hav- ; 

 .ing the immense area of 3,000,000 

 acres devoted to it alone. Italy has ' 

 about 2,300,000 acres and France about 

 SeO,000 acres. There are in Tun!*, on 

 Ci*.southern shores of the Mediter- ' 

 mott'ja, over 4,000,000 olive trees. Al- 

 fcsHii has 3,000,000, Syria has more 

 millions of them than lias ever been 

 tstimote<l, while in Greece, Turkey and 

 Asia Minor the olive is more abundant 

 than any other variety of fruit. 



Besides this immense area of culti- 

 Tated groves, there are vast numbers 

 Of wild trees, the fruit from which, 

 While of inferior quality, IB utilized to a 

 large extent by the poorer classes of. 

 atives, whose almost sole dependence ; 

 It is for food. i 



has at all ages been held is shown by 

 the fact that even when conquering 

 armies have despoiled cities and over- 

 thrown the fairest, monuments of 

 man's handiwork, they have frequently 

 spared the olive groves, so that there 

 are now actually in existence trees 

 which are credibly supposed to date 

 back to the commencement of or even 

 prior to the Christian era. 



The Greeks venerated tha olive to 

 such an extent that it was dedicate,! to 

 their goddess Minerva, while under the 

 Old Testament dispensation olive oil 

 was his: lily esteemed and made to play 

 an important part in the religious cere- 

 monials of the temples. The Biblical 

 history is full of allusions to the olive, 

 and an idea of the important part 

 pl.-iyed by that tree in those times can 

 be gathered from the legend told by 

 one of the prophets, in the Book of 

 Judges, wherein the trees are allege,! 

 to have chosen a king to rule over 

 them, and the choice tell upon the 

 olive, which, however, refused the 

 honor, saying: "Should I leave my 

 fatness, wherewith by me they honor 

 God and man, and go to be promoted 

 over -the trees?" In the early sacred 

 writings not included in the Scriptures 

 are many allusions to the olive, which 

 has indeed been held in great venera- 

 tion by all Christians because of the 

 intimata connection of the famous 

 Mount of Olives, nt Jerusalem, with 

 the life and death of the Savior. 



Beginning with the twig brought to 

 Nonh by the dove as a token of the 

 cessation of the divine wrath, the olive 

 has at all times been regarded as the 

 emblem of peace. It was in the most 

 ancient times an object of adoration 

 among the heathen, whose altars and 



article of food, as of their forefathers | temples were decorated with carrc.t 

 for centuries, is the olive and olive oil. representations of the folinge and fruit 

 ..MS be ruori readily 



I of the tree, while the use of the olive 

 branch as a toktn of friendly feeling is 

 so old that its origin cannot be ( 

 and nothing is more common to this 

 day than to speaK of an antagonist as 

 extending the olive branch, thereby 

 signifying a willingness to abandon 

 enmity for friendship. 



The olive, in short, is surrounded 

 with a halo of mystery and veneration 

 such as pertains to no other fruit in 

 the world. 



But it is with the practical rather 

 than the poetical or imaginative side 

 Of olive-growing that the people of ( l- 

 ifornia are most deeply interested, 

 though it must be confessed that the 

 study of the ancient history of. the tree is 

 , one of great fascination. Leaving that 

 branch of the subject, however, it is 

 apparent to all who have kept track of 

 the development of horticulture in < 'al- 

 ifornia within the past ten years that 

 the time is rapidly approaching when 

 olive culture will ba one of the princi- 

 pal and most lucrative industries in 

 this State. 



The Spaniards brought the olive 

 with them from their native land and 

 found that the soil and climate of 

 Mexico were partioulary adapted to 

 the growth of the tree. Apparently it 

 was those who bad in charge the re- 

 ligious concerns o! the new-come 

 who took the greatest interest in those 

 experiments in horticulture an 1 agri- 

 culture which have develops! so mar- 

 velously in this portion of America, 

 for no sooner had some new outpost 

 of the church been established in the 

 wilderness than at once orchards, 

 vineyards and gardens were planted, 

 which were tha forerunners of a 

 growth of which the old padres, far- 

 sighted and wise as they undoubtedly 

 were, had not the slightest conception. 

 When the project of establishing a 

 rhnin of missions extending along the 

 entire length of the Pacific coast was 

 tirst undertaken each of these missions 

 was made the means of spreading the 

 cultivation of the fruits and vegetables 

 that were so dear to the hearts of the 

 expatriated pioneers. 



The first of the Lower California 

 missions was established at Loreto in 

 the latter part of the seventeenth cen- 

 ' tury, and as soon as possible various 

 fruits were planted, among which was 

 the olive. This was in IT'.'l. 

 thereafter other missions were estab- 

 lished, and at all o( them olives, 

 figs and other fruits wet. 

 successfully. 



Toward the latter part of the eight- 

 eenth century the missions in \v' 

 now called California were 

 menced, and here, too, fn. 

 kept pace with other improven 

 At *.m Die.rro, San Luis Key, S-an Juan 

 Capisttano, San Gabriel, San Fer- 

 nando, San Buenaventura, Santa Bar- 

 bara, banta Ynez, !-an Luia Obispoand 

 elsewhere olivo trees and other fruits 

 were planted and flourished. The 

 earliest visitors to the coast from other 

 parts o! the world wrote entl. 

 tically of the grapes, olives, 15s; 

 other fruits with which they were re- 

 galed at the missions. 



San Diego was foun.l to be partk 

 larly well adapted to the olive, and 

 both at the mission of that name ana 

 at San Luis Hey, were large orchard: 

 at the Utter place several hundre 

 acres were covered with olives, whic* 

 have long since been destroyed. The 

 olive orchard at San Diego was planted 

 in 1709, and was undoubtedly the par- 

 ent of all the others in the State. 

 ISuO, when just 100 years old, trank 

 Kmiball. the well known o 

 of National City visited it, aud Sound 



