FEUIT CULTURE IN THE ALPS MARITIME. 925 



It held the highest rank in the ancient mythology. Minerva taught 

 the Athenians its uses. The peoples of antiquity held it in great 

 respect, and used its oil in their various religious ceremonies. It was 

 at once the emblem of holiness and peace. The fiomans refused to burn 

 the wood, even on their altars. 



The olive was brought from Egypt j,o Greece, and from thence spread 

 over the countries where it is now grown. 



It flourishes best iu the basin of the Mediterranean Sea, between 35° 

 and 430 north latitude, though this, as I have stated, will, owing to the 

 difference of temperature on the same parallel, be but an uncertain 

 guide in the United States. The oil produced on the African shore of 

 the Mediterranean is inferior to that of the north shore. 



Some of the islands of the Grecian Archipelago and the Adriatic pro- 

 duce fine oil, but the center, both for quantity and quality, so far at least 

 as concerns commerce, is at Nice and the surrounding country. From 

 St. Tropez to Savoue generally, but chiefly from the Var to the Roya, 

 from Cannes to Vintemille, the best oil is produced. 



Here the trees have been indigenous since before the Ohristinn era, 

 and here they grow to the largest size and the greatest age. One at 

 Beaulieu, in full vigor and bearing, is 22 feet in circumference and is 

 supposed to be 700 or more years old. 



The slower the fruit ripens the better oil it makes, but as it must be 

 fully ripe and entirely free from blemish to make the choicest oil, and 

 as it requires two years to come to perfection (the crop is only biennial), 

 one can easily comprehend the dangers of climate, season, malady, and 

 accident which must be avoided and the difficulties which must be over- 

 come in order to obtain final success. 



To accomplish this with a plant so tender requires a climate and sit- 

 uation of peculiar adaptation, and unless that is secured any attempt 

 at its cultivation will be fruitless. The fruit freezes at 23° Fahrenheit 

 and the tree at 16°. Once frozen, no remedy exists; the tree is de- 

 stroyed and must be cut down. 



It speaks volumes for the climate of this region to say that the olive 

 trees have here grown successfully for the centuries I have indicated. 



If the weather be too warm and the land too rich the fruit ripens too 

 fast and its good taste is gone. If, on the other hand, it should become 

 too cold, fruit and tree are both destroyed. Possibly I can do no bet- 

 ter than answer the question propounded in the circular to which this 

 is a response. 



VARIETIES OF OLIVE TEEES. 



What varieties of trees produce the best results and at what age? 



There are sixteen or seventeen different kinds, each wiih its botanical 

 name, which have been grown in this region, but nearly all as exotics. 

 The tree in common use is the Euiopean olive, and all the information 

 given concerns this. It gives the best oil. 



