CALIFORNIA OLIVE CULTURE VARIETIES. 49 



VAEIETIES. 



From a single species there issued, through fecundation, so 

 many varieties of the olive that now their number can hardly 

 be reckoned and it would require a long study to describe them. 

 Such a task would be a most difficult one, inasmuch as a great 

 many of these varieties, through modifications to which they 

 are subject by different conditions of soil and climate and 

 cultivation or by changed locality, possess peculiar characters 

 and habits which might be observed and recognized only 

 through experience. 



In many European olive regions it has been observed that 

 many varieties have not maintained themselves permanently, 

 and also many have been introduced under the local names by 

 which they are known in the districts from whence imported, 

 and on fruiting were found to be simply a multiplication of 

 the same under different names. 



In selecting varieties of olives the most important question is 

 a knowledge of the characters of the tree, the stature, the pre- 

 cocity, the fruitfulness, the oiliness of the fruit, and adapta- 

 bility to the location where it is to be planted. 



1. The degree of resistance of the fruit to cold and heat, as 

 to whether the tree can thrive in unprotected and non-temperate 

 places, in unpropitious localities, or places having the most 

 favorable exposures and well protected. 



2. The bearing of erect and robust or thin branches, numer- 

 ous or sparingly, suggests the form the trees will have, and 

 the method of pruning to adopt to make them fruitful. 



3. Large standard trees, or dwarfs or semi- dwarfs, indicate 

 the area that they will eventually occupy and the proper 

 distance to plant. 



4. The degree of precocity in blooming and maturing of the 

 fruit should be known in valuing the fruitfulness of any variety. 



5. The percentage of oil that olives of a given weight will 

 produce. 



6. Varieties that make a good pickle ripe, or a good quality 

 of oil. 



7. Varieties that make a good pickle green, or oil when ripe. 



4oc 



