CALIFORNIA OLIVE CULTURE UNFRUITFULNESS. 27 



pay for their culture, and no doubt never will, at least their 

 parents do not. 



Almost every variety of olive known to the Old World has 

 been imported into the State and planted indiscriminately 

 before the fruiting qualities were tested or the adaptability 

 to our soil and climate shown. Several of these have not yet 

 produced fruit in any quantity, while others are very shy 

 bearers. Many of these varieties fruit for awhile when the 

 trees are young, but on becoming older seem to degenerate and 

 cease to bear fruit, the branches dying in the center and the 

 energies of the tree being wasted in the production of growth 

 rather than of fruit. Some of these varieties are also deficient 

 in sexual strength of the bloom, not having the fertilizing 

 power essential for the setting of the fruit. For several seasons 

 I have observed in orchards, in many portions of the State, 

 little clusters of berries about half the size of peas. On opening 

 these berries the inside was found to be full of a gumlike 

 substance, and without a pit, showing deficiency in pollen 

 strength. Other berries, about the same size or larger, with 

 pits, being the result of late blooming. In many such trees 

 clusters of dried-up blossoms are often found without any 

 visible pollen in the flowers, which had died for want of fertili- 

 zation. The behavior in the fruiting of the greater portion 

 of the olive varieties so largely introduced has yet to be studied 

 and experimented upon. That all varieties, irrespective of the 

 climatic and soil conditions of the locations from which 

 imported, planted in a locality with conditions entirely dis- 

 similar, should be expected to become eminently successful, 

 has long ago been proven to be -a fallacy. 



With regard to the "Mission" olive, its non-bearing behavior 

 is easily understood. It requires, above all things, to be kept 

 in as clean and thrifty condition as possible. The black scale 

 must be freed from it, and the trees must be properly fertilized 

 and cultivated. Once the tree becomes infested with the black 

 scale the smut produced from the excrement of this insect will 

 cover the breathing functions of both leaf and branch, and the 

 tendency of the tree will then be to leaf growth instead of to 

 fruit. The tree-, however, may bloom profusely, but, being 

 sensitive to the fungus, the stems to which the flowers are 

 attached become weakened, lose hold, wither, and drop before 

 fertilization takes place. These natural conditions no doubt 



