THE OLIVE TREE. 



also the mean temperature of the coldest month 

 of the following prominent places in Italy, 

 Spain, Portugal, France, Egypt, and Palestine : 



" A comparison of the above tables will show 

 that so far as they relate to the mean for the 

 year and the mean for the coldest month, the 

 climate of Rome and Sacramento is nearly the 

 same. So is Alexandria and Los Angeles ; 

 Florence and Fort Tejon; Lisbon and Liver- 

 more; Marseilles and Benicia; Algiers and 

 San Diego, and Jerusalem and Merced. In 

 but one case for the year is there a difference 

 of more than one degree, and in but one case 

 more than three degrees for the difference of 

 the coldest month. 



THE WARM BELT OF THE FOOT-HILLS. 



"Another fact worthy of notice which has 

 been suspected, but for the proof of which the 

 data has not before been attainable, is that the 

 zone in the Sierra, known as the foot-hills, is as 

 warm for the year, and as warm for the coldest 

 month, as the Sacramento Valley in the same 

 latitudes. This warm belt certainly extends to 

 an elevation of 2,500 feet, Colfax, with an ele- 

 vation of 2,421 feet, has a mean for the year of 

 60.5, and a mean for the coldest month of 

 45.49 : while for the same periods Sacramento 

 has for the year 60.48, and for the coldest 

 month 46.21. Fort Tejon, on the Tehachepi 

 Mountains, elevation 6,240 feet, for the year, is 

 but six degrees colder than Tulare, in the cen- 

 ter of the valley, 3,000 feet below; while the 

 temperature for the winter months is nearly the 

 same, Fort Tejon having 42.5, and Tulare 

 42.7. This zone of warm temperature ex- 

 plains the success in the growth of oranges 

 and other semi-tropical fruits, wherever planted 

 below an elevation of 2,000 feet in the foot-hills 

 of the Sierra. There have been omitted from 

 the list of stations in California, San Francisco, 

 Monterey, Pajaro, San Mateo, Petaluma, Vi- 

 salia, and Tulare, for the reason that in the 

 mean annual temperature, or in the mean for 



the coldest months, they fall below 57 or 41". 

 Without doubt the olive could be grown in 

 these places, but its cultivation could hardly 

 be made profitable." There is a very generally 

 received opinion that sea air is peculiarly fa- 

 vorable to the olive tree, and I respectfully in- 

 dorse it from the observations I have been able 

 to make. I know it flourishes, and is very pro- 

 lific, far beyond the ordinary range of sea air, as 

 in Egypt, Arabia, and Persia ; but there seems 

 to be a confusion of terms here. No one surely 

 denies the fact of its growth, but disputes the 

 goodness of its produce for human food. Did 

 any one ever meet such an advertisement as 

 this in the shop windows, or newspaper col- 

 umns? The following appeared not very long 

 ago as an advertisement : 



"SOMETHING NEW AND DELICIOUS. 



"Messrs. Brown & Co., importers of groceries, oil- 

 men's stores, etc., etc., have just received from Suez a 

 consignment of olive oil from Central Egypt of most 

 superior quality for salads, for cooking fish, etc. This 

 oil has the merit of having been grown in a region re- 

 mote from sea air, and consequently has never been un- 

 der saline influence. Far superior to the Lucca ar- 

 ticle!"* 



Vast quantities of olive oil are imported into 

 England from those eastern countries, well 

 enough suited for use in the manufacture of 

 broadcloth. It is used mainly for that purpose, 

 and is as useful as the best, and procurable at 

 a low figure say sixty cents per gallon. But 

 the fine table oils of Southern Europe are very 

 dear in comparison from $1.25 to $2 per gal- 

 lon. The contention is that sea-air, from what- 

 ever cause, has been found most beneficial in 

 producing the finest fruit and oil. I shall have 

 to remind the reader again of these remarks 

 when I come to deal with the method of olive 

 planting. Still it may be as well to say in this 

 connection once for all that very nearly, if not 

 quite, all the writers on olive trees and their oil 

 refer only to the best kinds for human food, and 

 the methods of their cultivation. But it must 

 be kept in view that the consumption of olive 

 oil in the form of food is only a fraction of the 

 whole ; and in countries where butter is excel- 

 lent, plentiful, and cheap, oil will never become 

 more than a condiment so to speak or a 

 relish. The real consumers of olive oil are the 

 woolen mills. When the yolk has been taken 

 out of the wool, it must be soaked in olive oil 

 for all finer kinds of cloths, and this oil need 

 not be better than the worst yield of the berry. 

 In this country such would be yielded by the 

 second pressing, or third, and abundantly by 



* The man who wrote the above was either an ignoramus or 

 a cheat. 



