1HH OLIVE IN TUSCANY. 



693' 



olive tree does not thrive with, extremes of temperature ;. a climate too 

 hot and dry or too cold and moist is not favorable to its culture. It 

 thrives well on the sea coast or on the hill-side, producing buds in March 

 at a temperature of 10.50 or 11 centigrade (52 Fahr.), blossoming in 

 April at 15 centigrade, flourishing in May at 18 centigrade, and form- 

 ing the fruit in June at 21 centigrade. 



The lowest winter temperature supported without damage is 7 or 8 

 centigrade ; but this temperature can not be withstood any length of 

 time, indeed not over a week. 



OLIVE CLIMATE. 



(a.) The minimum of the temperature should be 7 or 8 centigradej 

 and that not to exceed eight days. 



(b.) Snow five or six times per year, and the snow to not last more than 

 two or three days at a time. Over that would undoubtedly injure the 

 tree. v 



(c.) Olives should commence to ripen before the end of October, and 

 the average temperature should not be lower than 16 centigrade. 



(d.) The months of June, July, and August should be dry to render 

 the olive healthy. 



From 25 mra to 30 mni (1 inch) of rain is necessary before June, suppos- 

 ing the previous winter to have been a fairly wet one. 



* Extreme heat known in summer at Florence ; actually the thermometer seldom rises over 30 cent. 

 ..r -'' Fahr. 



t This degree of cold is very rarely felt. The thermometer at Florence during the winter very sel- 

 dom falls lower than 5 cent, or 25 Fabr. 



EXPORT OF OLIVE OIL. 



I have now given the method of making pure olive oil, but it is to be 

 regretted that no pure oil is exported from Italy. The cotton-seed oil 

 is made and imported in large quantities for mixing with the olive, thus 

 giving to the dealer a- larger profit than he would receive from the pure 

 oil. Twenty- five per cent, of the liquid exported is composed of cotton- 

 seed oil, and the mixture sometimes contains as much as 50 per cent. 



My dispatch No. 23, dated May 2, 1883, gives an easy method of dis- 

 covering the presence of the adulterating liquid.* The cotton-seed oil 



* The test of Prof. Commendatore Bechi, director of the Technical Institute and of 

 the Agrarian School, is as follows : 



In a glass bulb place 5 cubic centimeters of the olive oil to be tested ; add to this 25 

 cubic centimeters of alcohol of 98 areometer. Then add 5 cubic centimeters of the 

 test, which is composed thus: One gram of crystallized nitrate of silver dissolved in 

 l-.'U cubic rt ntimft-rs of alcohol 98 areometer. The bulb containing the matterjust 



