140 "THE OLIVE 



tics in the times of Cato and Columella; and controverted by both 

 these writers — still holds its own among the more ignorant peasants 

 and notably in Spain, where olives are often stored for months and 

 occasionally for a year. 



Again, the immediate extraction within twenty four hours as 

 advised by Messrs Rae as the best usage of Tuscany, will not always 

 be possible as such a complete system demands very abundant facili- 

 ties of machinery and labor. No one who has engaged in oil extrac- 

 tion will be inclined to deny that the process is, at least, somewhat 

 more difficult with absolutely fresh olives. While the immediate 

 expression of oil is undoubtedly the best system, and growing in 

 favor and practice, it must be admitted that, in all probability the 

 greater proportion of olive oil and even the higher grades of oil are 

 made after the olives have been partially dried. The question is, 

 how to avoid any danger to the olive, if drying is found necessary 

 or convenient. The purpose of drying is to remove as nuich of the 

 water of the olive as possible. Evidently any tendency to soften- 

 ing will be simply the beginning of decay and will injure the 

 quality of the oil, and any possibility of mould must be avoided. 



The Italian system is to spread the freshly picked olives on floors 

 of porous brick, not more than five inches deep and allow^ free pas- 

 sage of air above them, while two or three times a day, they are 

 carefully and gently raked over. If drying is decided upon, or the 

 olives must await manufacture, this is the simplest and safest way for 

 a natural process. 



Mr EUwood Cooper of Santa Barbara has adopted a system of arti- 

 ficial drying of his own invention, similar to fruit dryers, which he 

 has described in his Avork on olive culture and which he finds satis- 

 factory. Naturally this avoids certain difficulties in fresh pressing 

 and certain dangers in natural drying. 



The first process of the oil mill is the crushing of the olives. The 

 crushing machine generally used, consists of a circular tub or trough 

 of stone or bricks covered w^itli cement, having a stone floor on 



