OLIVE CULTURE IN SPAIN. 715 



food. Recently a new process has come into vogue whereby a fur- 

 ther quantity of fatty matter is extracted, which is used for making 

 soap. Where it is not thought advisable to utilize the refuse in any of 

 the above ways, it will prove a very valuable fertilizer for the olive 

 grove. 



The yield of oil from a given weight of fresh fruit varies from 16 to 

 25 per cent. ; the latter figure is not often reached even with the best 

 oil-yielding varieties and the most improved processes. I have obtained 

 data showing a higher percentage, but I believe that the figures ex- 

 pressed the proportion of oil to a given weight of olives which, as is 

 usual in Andalusia, had been lying heaped up on the mill floors for sev- 

 eral weeks, thus losing moisture and weight. 



Extent and yield.— The area covered by olive plantations in Spain is 

 not accurately known. The official cadastral data are notoriously mis- 

 leading, nor do they exist in any shape whatever in relation to some 

 provinces ; no professional econqmist would take them to be more than 

 mere approximations, of which the factor of error would probably vary 

 in every district, rendering any scheme of rectification extremely diffi- 

 cult. Hidalgo Tablada,* who bears the reputation of being a safe guide 

 on such matters, makes the following estimates : 



Area of olive groves hectares.. 2,099,651 



Number of olive trees (80 per hectare) 167,972,080 



Arrobasof oil proclnced (1 arrobat to 6 trees) 27,992,347 



Valae of annual yield (at 10 pesos perarroba) pesos.. 279,953,470 



Gross product per hectare do... 133.33 



From which product he deducts 80 per cent, for cultivation, harvesting, 

 pressing, interest, and taxes, leaving net income of 26.67 pesos per hec- 

 tare (equivalent to $2.08 per acre). This extremely low average yield 

 can only appear credible to those who, like myself, have seen miies of 

 olive groves in a state of utter neglect, unprotected from the inroads of 

 cattle or game, and, in fact, left to thrive or perish without the inter- 

 vention of human agency save at cropping time. The province of Cadiz 

 has a perfect wilderness of just such groves, and of course the product 

 must in these cases be miserably small. 



The province of Seville possesses a number of carefully cultivated 

 groves, ranking probably in that respect along with the best, and the 

 value of olive orchards in that district some fourteen years ago ranged 

 from a minimum of rsvn. 500 ($25) to a maximum of rsvn. 4,000 ($200) 

 per aranzada.f The value of a good orchard does not frequently ex- 

 ceed the latter sum at the present day, although the working expenses 

 and income of an aranzada of that class, as given me by a planter from 

 the Utrera district (Seville), seem to indicate a higher value. These 



" He wrote in 1870. 



t The arroba=lli kilogram8=about 25 pounds avoirdupois. 



t The aranzada=37 57 ares, or 0.9284 of an acre. 



