386 COFFEE. 



pensive lithographed ones being used for packing the finer fruit. 

 The system of advances to growers is also quite general, many 

 farmers being under contract not to sell their crop to any other 

 than certain shippers, but on the other hand there is always a 

 certain amount of stock awaiting sale in Malaga, and shipping 

 merchants can, by going through this stock, purchase different 

 qualities to fill orders as received. Unlike the Valencia crop, the 

 Malaga raisins are mostly shipped to the United States, as will 

 be seen by the following table, showing the total crop and ship- 

 ments for the last four years : 



Seaeou Seapon Season Season 



1876.-77. 1875-76. 1874-75. 1873-74. 



United States 1,311,966 856,277 956,818 1,220,377 



Other countries 947,084 671,223 479,683 746,723 



Total 2,259,000 1,527,500 1,436,000 1,967,000 



Most of the best fruit still goes to London (from whence 

 originated the term " London Layers "), but the term " American 

 fruit," which formerly here meant refuse of the market, has 

 begun to lose its original significance, and the United States now 

 takes a much larger quantity of fine fmit than formerly. 



Different houses make up slightly different statistics of ex- 

 ports, and the ofiicial figures of the United States Consul make 

 quite a different showing from that of any of the statistics which 

 I have seen. This, however, is perhaps inevitable, as the differ- 

 ent mercantile houses are not fond of telling their business to 

 each other, and the records which they make up are in many 

 cases estimated. 



OLIVES AND OLIVE OIL. 



But few Americans have an idea of the magnitude of the 

 business done in these items, or of the vast extent of country 

 over which the cultivation of the olive tree extends. In coming 

 from the East Indies I first saw the olive-tree growing in 

 Greece, although I believe that it flourishes in Asia Minor and 

 also throughout a considerable portion of Syria and Palestine. 

 Throughout nearly the whole of Italy the olive is a chief crop. 



