686 FRUIT CULTURE IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES. 



must be removed. Every third year the ground about the trees should 

 be manured, the amount to be determined by the condition of the soil. 



It is often the case that even in dry situations a moss gathers upon 

 the trees. When this occurs the moss must be removed by scraping. 

 Dregs of the oil should be smeared upon the trunks of the less vigorous 

 trees. This will destroy the insects that infest the bark and thus injure 

 the trees. 



After the lapse of eight years the trees must be thoroughly pruned ; 

 cutting away all sprouts, and such branches as obstruct the air and 

 sunlight ; but no large branch should be cut near the body of the tree ; 

 and the lower branches should be spared, because being more exposed 

 to the warmth they are the most productive. 



At eight years old the olive is but a mere infant tree. At fifteen 

 years of age it bears but little fruit. When thirty-five or forty years 

 old it begins to bear abundantly, but then only every other year. Every 

 alternate year there is generally a poor crop. At this age a hectare 

 (^rfoo acres) of trees in the fruitful year generally yields from 3 to 4 

 quintals metrique (660 to 668 pounds) of olives,, or about 240 or 320 kilo- 

 grams (530 to 705 pounds) of oil. 



When the trees are fully grown the ground should be plowed at in- 

 tervals during the year, and should be once hoed during the autumn. 

 The cost of this per annum, including the pruning and cleaning of the 

 trees, is about 106 to 130 lire ($19.80 to $25.09) per hectare (2^ftf 

 acres). 



For oil the fruit should be gathered when it commences to change 

 color from gray to dark red. The fruit must be picked by hand, not 

 knocked off with poles, and care taken not to bruise it. If bruised or 

 injured in any way it soon becomes rotten, and the oil from it is of poor 

 quality. As soon as gathered the oil should at once be compressed 

 from the fruit. In Sicily there are mills for this purpose. The fruit is 

 placed between two stones and the stones forced together by screw 

 power. It spoils the fruit to let it lie in heaps in a store-house before 

 extracting the oil. The oil as soon as extracted is placed in large jars. 

 The jars should be thoroughly cleaned with vinegar and water before 

 receiving the oil. When the jars have been filled with the oil, they are 

 placed in rooms where the temperature is kept about 15 above zero 

 (R6aumar), (or Fahrenheit about 50 above zero). In the month oV June 

 following, as soon as the oil becomes clear (impurities settling to the 

 bottom) the upper strata of oil (the clearest) in the jars must be poured 

 off into other jars, the cloudy or poorer quality remaining. This oil is 

 the first grade or best quality. In a month after this process is repeated, 

 the turned-off oil being second grade or quality. After the lapse of 

 another month the process is again repeated, giving an oil of third 

 quality. The dregs are now left in the first jars, and are here used for 

 making soap, rubbing on the bark of sickly young trees, etc. 



For export the olives must be gathered by hand in the month of De- 



