Olive Trees. . 



The cultivation of olive-trees is very popular and covers an 

 area of 330,000 hectares, each hectare containing 120 trees. 

 The average yield per tree is 6 kilogrammes of olives per annum, 

 with 18 per cent, of oil. The crops depend on the season and 

 on the manures. Yields of 15 kilogrammes per tree have been 

 recorded, and higher percentages of oil (36 per cent.) are not 

 uncommon. The total annual production of olive oil averages 

 500,000 hectolitres. During the war period the production 

 decreased and touched 350,000 hectolitres. The consumption of 

 olive oil and of olives is considerable in the country. The fisheries 

 absorb large quantities of oil in the sardine and tunny preserving 

 industry. The number of olive-oil factories in Portugal is 5,263, 

 most of them small and inadequately organised. The olive-oil 

 markets are in the African colonies and in Brazil, but with the 

 expansion of the fish-preserving industries the amount of olive 

 oil available for the export trade is declining every year. The 

 value of this crop is at present 160,000,000 escudos. 



Almond Trees. 



The area under almond-trees, fig-trees, and carob-trees is 

 131,221 hectares. The value of the crops is estimated at 600,000 

 per annum. 



Flax and Hemp. 



Flax is cultivated in the Northern provinces. The area under 

 flax is decreasing, and it is estimated that not even 90,000 hectares 

 are being exploited of the 200,000 hectares of the middle of the 

 nineteenth century. The yield per hectare is 400 kilos of textile 

 material and 7 hectolitres of seed, but the plant never grows more 

 than 72 centimetres. The linen manufactured in the country was, 

 approximately, 4,000 tons in 1900; but no reliable figures are 

 available since that date. 



Hemp was cultivated in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries 

 for the manufacture of ropes ; but there is no appreciable planta- 

 tion at present. 



Palm Trees. 



Certain varieties of palm trees are cultivated in the Algarve, 

 where their fibres are utilised for brooms or mats. 



Tobacco. 



Tobacco is cultivated in the Douro district, under special 

 laws. Its cultivation is restricted to certain areas according to 



