12 



THE OLIVE TREE. 



ing them in moist ground from cuttings fifteen to 

 eighteen inches long, and from one-half to one 

 inch through. They are planted very sloping 

 in the ground, with a very small portion left 

 above. These mostly root enough in one year 

 to remove the next for planting out. I have 

 also seen large limbs of old trees planted partly 

 in the ground, and a mound of earth three or 

 four feet high piled up round above the surface, 

 but they did not do well; the climate here is 

 too dry in the summer. The favorite way 

 seems to be to plant seedlings, which are very 

 abundant, and can be bought for about ^i per 

 one thousand. These are large enough to graft 

 in two years, and can be planted out the follow- 

 ing season with a pretty sure prospect of suc- 

 cess. I am not/ acquainted with the different 

 kinds of olives grown here. Mine are all seed- 

 lings, and produce pretty fair sized fruit, but I 

 find I have two or three trees very much su- 

 perior to the rest, and shall graft them all to 

 those kinds if I find I can succeed by grafting 

 in the larger branches, which I shall try this 

 season. My olives bear more abundantly every 

 second year, and I do not see that the hot 

 winds have any bad effect on them ; I never 

 find the fruit drop off after them, like oranges 

 do. I managed to keep my olives three years 

 by spreading them on the trays I use for fruit 

 drying. I had them all crushed at the goal by 

 the prisoners, and the oil from the dried berries 

 was considered quite equal to that got from 

 fresh fruit. I have no knowledge of the pro- 

 duce per tree of mine, but a friend, Mr. Quick, 

 of Marden, last year made two gallons of fine 

 oil from a tree in his garden ; he has promised 

 to give me the age of the tree, etc., and if I get 

 it I will inclose it. I notice that the olive 

 grows well here in all soils, even in salty land 

 that will not grow any fruit tree. I have my 

 olives gathered by children, and pay them two 

 shillings per hundred- weight for gathering ; they 

 earn about one shilling per day. I do not let 

 them beat the trees, but let them get up and 

 shake the branches, or stand on the ground 

 with a long light pole with a crook fixed at the 

 end to seize hold of the branches ; the crook is 

 made of iron of a particular shape, and is cov- 

 ered with soft stuff to prevent it barking the 

 branches. The trees have to be gone over sev- 

 eral times, as the olives do not all come off with 

 the first shaking. The olive should not be 

 planted less than twenty feet apart, and that 

 will be too close on good land." 



The following is from my correspondent, Mr. 

 P. A. Gugeri, now of Western Australia, where 

 he is now engaged in cultivating olive trees and 

 vines : 



"The olive is a tree that ought to be culti- 

 vated wherever it will grow. The labor of 

 gathering the olives is not so much as some 

 think. If the trees are so pruned as not to 

 grow above fourteen or sixteen feet high, the 

 olives are easily beaten off the trees with long 

 sticks, large cloths or tarpaulins having been 

 spread under the trees to receive the berries. 

 A man could easily knock down five hundred- 

 weight a day, which would make nearly four 

 gallons at least, three and a half of oil. 



"The process of oil-making is very simple in 

 expressing the oil. It can be done with a hy- 

 draulic, or any large screw-press, the olives be- 

 ing placed in a perforated cylinder and pressed. 

 Oil and water will come over. This should be 

 received in a tub, the oil rising to the top in 

 half an hour or so, when it is skimmed off and 

 put into a cask, or other convenient wooden or 

 earthen vessel, and let stand where the light 

 cannot reach it to clear itself. Great care 

 should be taken to skim off all the oil before 

 fermentation of the fruity juice of the olive sets 

 in, or it will be re-absorbed and lost. .We con- 

 sider this the very finest oil. 



"The stones that remain at the end of this 

 process may then be ground under a heavy 

 stone, such as a millstone, to pulp, mixed with 

 hot water, placed in a strong bag of canvas, or 

 like material, and pressed as before." 



As to the best time for gathering the fruit, it 

 seems to be just when it approaches natural 

 ripeness; but about Lisbon they were left on 

 the trees till fully ripe. 



Pliny condemned the practice of leaving the 

 fruit over long on the trees, as he considered 

 that by so doing the next year's crop is injured. 

 "Haerendo, enim, ultra suum tempus absumunt 

 venientibus alimentum." 



The following is from the paper of B. B. 

 Redding, Esq., already mentioned, and well 

 deserves to be recorded here. My warmest 

 thanks are due, and tendered, to him for his 

 kindness and urbanity in allowing me to use 

 his labors. 



INTRODUCTION OF THE OLIVE INTO CALI- 

 FORNIA. 



"I have found it very difficult to obtain the 

 history of the introduction of the Mission olive 

 into California. It was first brought to Amer- 

 ica by Antonia Ribora, who took it from Spain 

 to Lima in 1 560. Frezier speaks of the olive 

 being used for oil in Chile as early as 1700. 

 Frank A. Kimball, of San Diego, in an article 

 on the olive in the Southern California Horti- 

 culturist, states that the first olive trees were 

 planted by the Spanish missionaries at that 



