616 FRUIT CULTURE IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES. 



Irrigation. — Olive trees are not irrigated. 



Situation. — At Kalmun the orchards are very near the sea, with a 

 northwestern exposure. 



Bain-fall. — Though we have no meteorological observatory in Tripoli, 

 still we consider the rain-fall in the city a little more than that of Beirut, 

 say about 40 to 42 inches per annum. 



G. Yanni, 

 Acting Consular Agent. 

 United States Consular Agency, 



Tripoli, March 18, 1884. 



AUSTRALASIA. 



BBPORT TIT OONSVL OSJFFIN, OF STDNET. 



Mr. J. H. Maiden, P. E. G. S., curator of the technological museum^ 

 Sydney, and author of au interesting and valuable paper on olives and 

 olive-oil, mentions two species of oleas, Oleapaniculata and Oleaapetala 

 as indigenous in New South Wales. This fact he thinks shows that the 

 climate here will be found suitable for olives generally. It is certain 

 that many varieties of the olive tree producing fruit that have been 

 Xjlanted here and in other parts of Australasia have done exceedingly 

 well, but the fact nevertheless remains that olive culture has not yet 

 proved to be of any commercial or economic value, except, perhaps, in the 

 neighborhood of Adelaide, in South Australia, and^even there it is not re- 

 gairded as of sufficient importance to be included in the statistical returns 

 of the government relating to area undercrop, but the returns of exports 

 show that, in 1887, 517 gallons of olive-oil, the produce of the colonyi 

 were exported, and in 1888 419 gallons. 



Sir Samuel Davenport, who is an authority on olive growing in Aus- 

 tralia, informs me that his plantation, which is the largest in Australasia, 

 contain.^ about 1,500 trees, 



placed as boundary lines inside vineyards and in occasional odd corner lands. Al- 

 though yon may meet with a few olive trees in public and private grounds, -where 

 the climate is adapted for their growth, there are only a few individuals who pay the 

 cultivation any attention. Beyond my own fruit, I usually buy olives ofl' trees in my 

 neighborhood, so that annually I make from 1,200 to 1,500 giiHons of oil. A few other 

 persons make a little but the whole production is relatively insignificant, nor can be 

 worthy of notice until our people wake up to the fact that the olive tree is one that 

 they should, in tljeir own interests, largely grow. 



Among the varieties cultivated by Sir Samuel for oil arc the French 

 Blauquette, Blanquettier, Verdale, Pcndulier, Italian — that of Lucca; 

 Spanish, a few kinds, whose names lie has not given me. He has 

 nearly all the best known varieties used ibr oil and several that are 

 used for pickling, such as the big Spanish, which, however, gives but 

 little oil. 



