TIIIO OlAVK IN TUSCANY. fi!)3" 



olive tri'b does uot thrive with extremes of temperature ;. a climate too 

 hot aud dry or too cold and moist is not favorable to its culture. It 

 thrives well ou the sea coast or on the hill-side, producing buds in March 

 at a temperature of 10.50° or 11° centigrade (52° Pahr.), blossoming in 

 April at 15° centigrade, flourishing in May at 18° centigrade, and form- 

 ing the fruit in June at 21° centigrade. 



Ihe lowest winter temperature supported without damage is 7° or 8° 

 centigrade; but this temperature can not be withstood any length of 

 time, indeed uot over a week. 



OLIVE CLIMATE. 



{a.) The minimum of the temperature should be 7° or 8° centigrade, 

 aud that not to exceed eight days. 



{b.) Snow five or six times per year, and the snow to not last more than 

 two or three days at a time. Over that would undoubtedly injure the 

 tree. 



(c.) Olives should commence to ripen before the end of October, and 

 the average temperature should not be lower than 16° centigrade. 



(d.) The months of June, July, and August should be dry to render 

 the olive healthy. 



From 25"™ to 30""" (1 inch) of raiu is necessary before June, suppos- 

 ing the previous winter to have been a fairly wet one. 



* Exfrerae heat known in summer at Florence ; actually the therraoraeter seldom rises oper 30° cent, 

 or 86° Fahr. 



t This degree of cold is very rarely fi'lr. The thermometer at Flort-uec during the winter vi-ry sel- 

 dom falls lower than 5° cent, or 25° "Fahr. 



EXPORT OF OLIVE OIL. 



1 have now given the method of making pure olive oil, but it is to be 

 regretted that no pure oil is exported from Italy. The cotton-seed oil 

 is made and imported in large quantities for mixing with the olive, thus 

 giving to the dealer a larger profit than he would receive from the pure 

 oil. Twenty five per cent, of tlie liquid exported is composed of cotton- 

 seed oil, and the mixture sometimes contains as much as 50 per cent. 



My dispatch No. 23, dated May 2, 1883, gives an easy method of dis- 

 covering the presence of the adulterating liquid.* The cotton-seed oil 



• The test of Prof. Commendatore Boolii, director of the Tcchnii;il Institute and of 

 the Agrarian School, ia as follows : 



In a slass bulb pl.ace 5 cubic centimeters of tlic olive, oil to be tested ; add to this-2.^ 

 cubic ci'utinieters of alcohol of '.18° areonietei-. Then add 5 cubic leiitimeters of the 

 test, which is coiiiposed thus: One gram of crystalli/.ed nitrate of silver di.ssolved in 

 liiOcrtbir' I'fuHuicterH of alooliol Hi-! > areonii-ter, The Imlb eoiitaining the matter just 



