722 FRUIT CULTURE IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES. 



and to keep it as long as possible in the position best fitted to feed tbe 

 roots of the tree. The ground between the trees is generally neglected. 



The " queen olive of commerce " is almost unknown here. It is the 

 pick of the largest and finest fruits produced by the best olive trees of 

 Spain. 



Maturity. — The olive tree generally comes into full bearing about 

 its twenty-fifth year when it has been grown from slips ; but when 

 grafted it yields abundantly between its eighth and twelfth year. In 

 both cases it continues to produce largely CNcry alternate year for 

 about fifty or sixty years, and if cultivated as mentioned above it will 

 continue to yield fruit, though less largely, up to the age of one hun- 

 dred years. 



Yield. — Under ordinary circumstances a young healthy tree that has 

 reached maturity will produce in a " poor" year about 82J pounds, and 

 with careful cultivation the same tree will yield in a " good " year double 

 that quantity. 



The trees vary in yield every alternate year. An acre will contain 

 120 trees, and each tree will yield an average of about 100 pounds of 

 fruit ; the produce of the acre will therefore be about 12,000 pounds. As 

 it takes about 60 pounds of fruit to produce 1 gallon of oil, the yield of 

 the acre will be 200 gallons. 



In Smyrna, etc., a few new mills have been constructed to be worked 

 by steam, but elsewhere the mills continue to be worked on the old sys- 

 tem, notwithstanding the urgent necessity of substituting improved ma- 

 chinery. 



Planting.— ThQ tte&s are generally planted in rows at about 20 feet 

 apart, but in some places they are grown much closer, especially on the 

 steep slopes of hills. In the islands of the Archipelago, where the land 

 is often broken and irregular, they are planted in places where the soil 

 is so arid and barren that it will hardly grow anything else. 



Picking. — When olives are intended for pickling a small portion is 

 plucked while green to be pickled in that state ; but the larger portion 

 of the fruit intended for preserving is gathered when it has fully ripened 

 and has turned black. It is preferred in this state by those who relish 

 the oily flavor, and there is a large consumption of black pickled olives 

 in Turkey. 



Oil of a superior quality, but small in quantity, is extracted in some 

 districts from green olives that have been plucked or have fallen from 

 the trees ; but as a rule olives specially intended for producing oil are 

 picked only when they have become quite ripe and black. It is chiefly 

 from the seed-vessel that olive oil is obtained, and not from the seed, 

 contrary to the general rule of the vegetable kingdom. 



Pickling.— '^0 preserve black olives for the table, the fruit is packed 

 in casks or boxes with a layer of common salt three-quarters of an inch 

 thick at the bottom. On this is laid a layer of olives about two and 

 a half to three inches in depth, upon which a light covering of salt is 



