THE OLIVE 135 



skin finallv wrinkles and the color becomes a dull black. This is 

 the state in which it is popularly supposed to give the most oil. 

 which we have alreadv shown to be a fallacv but even ^rantin^ it to 

 be true, the quality is inferior, the flavor gross and the oil soon be- 

 comes rancid. An olive is fully ripe wdien on being squeezed be- 

 tween the thumb and finger the soft pulp shows no wdiite, but for 

 manv reasons, as we have seen, it mav be desirable to forestall this 

 period. 



No time can be set when iui olive crop should be harvested. It 

 mav varv bv weeks from one season to another, and it is iar bettei* 

 on every account to antici])ate, than to defer the harvest. The ber- 

 ries should be carefully gone over and ail leaves and dirt picked out; 

 the former giving a bitter taste to the oil and the latter lessening 

 the quantity as well as lowering the quality. 



What wall an olive orchard produce ? As we have seen, it is cus- 

 tomary in Spain in estimating the annual oil product of an orchard 

 to calculate that everv *six, trees will oive four 2:allons of oil. This 

 at first glance appears to be a very small yield, but it must be re- 

 membered that it is an estimate applied to the whole face of the 

 country, that olive trees are very numerous in Spain and many or- 

 chards are very old and in a ])Oor state of cultivation. Also that it 

 is a general annual estimate inde])endent of fluctuations from year 

 to year. 



A careful observation of the olive districts in Italv bv Pj'ofessi r 

 Caruso, extending over many years, shows that the greatest produc- 

 tion is found in Sicily, but not the finest quality. The Sicilian 

 product runs as high as ninety gallons of oil to the acre, falling to 

 fifty in Liguria and the Xeapolitan States, which would give a mean 

 of seventy 2:allons to the acre for the whole of Italv. 



Mr. Cooper makes the statement that on a piece of two acres ( f 

 ground seven year old trees averaged one hundred and twenty-two 

 pounds of olives per tree. 



On the Quito Farm, Mission olive trees which were 2;rown from 



