2 BULLETI]^ 803, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Tulare and Fresno counties, centering at Lindsay and Fresno. Re- 

 cently some very extensive planting has been done in Tulare County. 

 The southern district lies in the territory centering around Los 

 Angeles and San Diego. Although the oldest, it is, or soon will be, 

 surpassed in production by both of the other districts. There are 

 some groves also in a few sheltered valleys along the southern coast, 

 and elsewhere, but they have little commercial importance. Planting 

 is being done in the Imperial Valley. In 1916 the State's estimated 

 yearly production was 1,000,000 gallons of olive oil and 300,000 6-gal- 

 lon cases of pickled olives.^ The rapidly growing popularity of the 

 pickled ripe olives and the protection afforded to olive oil by food 

 legislation have given a great impetus to the industry. 



VARIETIES OF THE OLIVE GROWN IN CALIFORNIA. 



The varieties of olives that have been grown in California are very 

 numerous. The California Agricultural Experiment Station has 

 reported analyses of 57 varieties.^ The important ones, however, are 

 limited in number, the favorite varieties being, in approximate order 

 of importance, the Mission, Manzanillo, Ascolano, Sevillano, and 

 Nevadillo Blanco.^ Since the Nevadillo Blanco is more important as 

 an oil olive than for pickling, the observations reported in this bulle- 

 tin have been limited to the first four named. The Oblitza olive, a 

 large Dalmatian variety, is also used for pickling. The olive was 

 originally grown largely fpr oil, but more recently the pickling 

 varieties have been in greater demand. The following descriptions 

 of the five varieties are based in part upon material recognized by the 

 industry under the respective names and in part on publications of 

 the University of California.* / 



Mission. — This name denotes the variety derived from the old 

 mission groves, and possibly covers several subvarieties. Of these 

 the common or broad-leaved Mission is the one generally known as 

 Mission. The fruit is of medium to large size, about ten-sixteenths to 

 twelve-sixteenths inch in diameter; ovate, oblique — sometimes very 

 much so — ^tip rather pointed; fruit variable in size; pit straight or 

 somewhat curved, usually with a sharp point. (PI. I.) 



Mamanillo. — This variety was imported from Spain. It is a 

 medium to large-sized olive, about the same as the Mission, approxi- 

 mately ten-sixteenths to twelve-sixteenths inch in diameter; quite 

 regular, rounded oval, more nearly globular than the Mission, and 



^Ann. Rept. Calif. Development Board for 1916. San Francisco, 1917. 



2 Rept. of Work of Agr. Exp. Sta., Univ. Calif., 1898-1901, pp. 263-307. Sacramento, 

 1902. 



«E. J. Wickson. The California Fruits and How to Grow Them, pp. 835-350. San 

 Francisco, 1914. 



''Rept. of Work of Agr. Exp. Sta., Univ. Calif., 1898-1901. Acknowledgments are 

 due F. T. Bioletti for reviewing these descriptions. 



