714 FRUIT CULTURE IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES. 



about 1 volume of salt to 14 volumes of water. It is best to use butts or 

 barrels in which wine or brandy has been kept; those having been put 

 to any other use are apt to give the olives the flavor of their previous 

 contents; if new vessels are provided, they should be of oak, not pine, 

 and they should be 'soaked about thirty days before being used. At the 

 bottom a layer of olive twigs and leaves is first placed, which protects 

 the olives from injury by pressure, and on the top of the fruit another 

 similar layer is placed, taking care to have this layer well covered by 

 the brine ; the whole is kept down by some oak staves weighted with 

 bricks or stone, all of which must of course be scrupulously clean, as 

 any noxious taste or flavor imparted to the brine will affect the olives. 

 The vessels should be covered with a cloth or tarpaulin, in order to ex- 

 clude dust. Olives thus treated will be in good order for bottling or 

 for consumption within about four months, and will keep sound certainly 

 two years. 



For pickling by the quick process a solution of caustic soda is pre- 

 pared, this solution to be of a strength of about 4 of the French sal- 

 inometer, and the fruit placed therein. After remaining in soak tin 

 hour a few olives must be sampled by cutting, in order to ascertain 

 how far the solution has penetrated into the pulp; the depth of such 

 penetration can be readily noticed by the color, and should not exceed 

 half the thickness of the pulp 5 if after an hour this is not the case, other 

 samplings must take place at intervals of not more than ten minutes, 

 until the olives are found to be in the proper condition. Then the solu- 

 tion is to be immediately drawn oft and replaced by fresh water, which 

 must be changed quickly three or four times, the fruit being allowed 

 to remain in the last water for twenty-four hours. During that time 

 the brine is prepared, and next day the olives are placed in it, following 

 the same directions as were given when describing the first process. 

 By this mode the olives will be ready for use within about thirty days. 



In both modes of preparation the olives should after being once wetted 

 never be exposed to the air more than a few minutes at a time ; and to 

 handle the fruit ladles of wood or tin dippers should be used. 



This gives a fair outline of the modes in general use for pickling, 

 although undoubtedly some of the picklers have special recipes, upon 

 which, however, no definite information could be Obtained. Ifc may be 

 stated here that pickled olives in the Seville trade are at present roughly 

 classed as Manzanillas and Gordales, meaning thereby, respectively, very 

 small or very large (the latter being the " queen olives"), which names 

 have no connection with the variety of the fruit put up. 



Oil-pressing. Oil- pressing is carried on in many ways, some of them 

 yet very primitive. The first pressing is done by means of a mill some- 

 what akin to a cider-mill ; the pulpy mass then has hot water poured 

 on it, and is subjected to a second pressing, which in the Seville dis- 

 trict is now usually accomplished by hydraulic machinery. The refuse 

 from this second pressing is used as fuel, and in some cases as a cattle 



