THE OLIVE TREE. 



'that it prefers a light warm ground, but does 

 not thrive in rich alluvial land, and grows well 

 on hilly and rocky surfaces.' Beniays says 

 'that it thrives and is most prolific in dry cal- 

 careous schistose, sandy, and rocky situations. 

 The land must be naturally or artificially well 

 drained. Its great enemy is excess of moisture. 

 It rejoices in the mechanical looseness of sandy, 

 gravelly and stony soils, and in freedom from 

 stagnant moisture.' Brande asserts that it only 

 grows well and yields large crops 'in a warm 

 and comparatively dry climate.' Dr. Robinson 

 says 'it delights in a stony soil, and thrives 

 even on the sides and tops of rocky hills where 

 there is scarcely any earth ; hence the expres- 

 sion in the Bible, "oil out of the flinty rock." ' 

 Hillhouse,in his article on this tree in Michaux's 

 Sylva, says: 'The olive accommodates itself to 

 almost any variety of soil, but it shuns a re- 

 dundancy of moisture, and prefers loose cal- 

 careous fertile lands mingled with stones, such 

 as the territory of Attica and the south of 

 France. The quality of its fruit is essentially 

 affected by that of the soil. It succeeds in 

 good loam capable of bearing wheat, but in fat 

 lands it yields oil of an inferior flavor, and be- 

 comes laden with a barren exuberance of leaves 

 and branches. The temperature of the climate 

 is a consideration of more importance than the 

 nature of the soil.' Downing, in writing of this 

 tree in Southern Europe, says : 'A few olive 

 trees will serve for the support of an entire 

 family who would starve on what could other- 

 wise be raised on the same surface of soil ; and 

 dry crevices of rocks and almost otherwise bar- 

 ren soils in the deserts, when planted with this 

 tree, become flourishing and valuable places of 

 habitation.' " 



CLIMATE OF THE OLIVE TREE. 



The olive tree, like most other sub-tropical 

 trees, has a wide range within which it will 

 thrive and be fruitful, though the fruit grown at 

 either of the extreme points of the range will 

 generally be of inferior quality. In the warmer 

 parts of Northern Italy it thrives and produces 

 freely. About Lago di Como and Lago Mag- 

 giore it seems to touch the outermost limit of 

 warmth. There the fruit is not unusually gath- 

 ered when the snow is lying six inches thick 

 over the ground. No one would advise the 

 planting of it in California under the conditions 

 last mentioned. 



I am again glad to be able to avail myself of 

 the patient industry of Mr. Redding, for it re- 

 quires much perseverence and zeal to work out 

 climatic details such as will be found in the 

 subjoined table and its introductory remarks. 



It is matter for regret that his interesting paper 

 has not been thrown out in a less perishable 

 form than publication in the columns of a news- 

 paper. 



"For the purpose of ascertaining where with- 

 in this State the olive can be successfully culti- 

 vated, I have gathered from the tables of tem- 

 perature of the Smithsonian Institution and 

 the Chief Engineer's Department of the. rail- 

 road companies, a list of all the places whose 

 temperatures fall within those limits which 

 Humboldt states have been found to be essen- 

 tial. The regions which this list represents 

 could, without doubt, be extended, had more 

 attention been given in different parts of the 

 State to observing and recording the variations 

 in temperature. It will be remembered that 

 the requisites of successful and profitable culti- 

 tion are, that for the year it must be as warm 

 as 57.17. The mean for the coldest month 

 must be as warm as 41.5, and at no time must 

 the temperature fall below 14. I cannot find 

 in any authority how high a temperature it will 

 bear, but as it is successfully grown in Algeria 

 and Egypt, it could hardly be injured by the 

 highest temperatures that occur at the places 

 mentioned in the following list : 



"For the purpose of comparing the tempera- 

 tures of the above named places in California 

 with those of regions in which the produce of 

 the olive is among the articles of the first agri- 

 cultural and commercial importance, I have 

 compiled from Blodgett's Climatology the mean 

 annual and the mean winter temperatures, as 



