OLIVE OIL. 



395 



they are pressed once more. The oil gained by this process is 

 yellowish-green, has a sharp taste, and an unpleasant smell, because 

 it contains some mucilaginous matters. Sometimes the so-treated 

 olives are once more pressed and boiled over ; the oil thus obtained 

 is called in France " huile d'enfer," and is only used for burning or 

 similar uses. The olives may also be brought to a fermentative 

 process, before pressing them, which gives more oil, but of a less fine 

 quality. 



At Marseilles the olive oils are classed into manufacturing oil, for 

 burning or for factories, refined, oil from the pulp or husks, and 

 table or edible oil. The latter is divided into superfine, fine, half 

 tine, and ordinary. The quantity taken for consumption of the 

 different kinds was as follows : 





1874. 



1875, 







kilos. 



kilos. 







3,200,000 



6,200,000 





Oil of pulp or husks . . 



1,500,000 



2,600,000 





Manufacturing oil 



3,000,000 



5,700,000 







4,000,000 



3,600,000 





The imports at Marseilles were 15,200,000 kilos, in 1874, and 

 22,600,000 in 1875. 



The Italians keep their oil in stone jars, as did their classic 

 ancestors. The oil for sale is filled into barrels of oak wood im- 

 ported from Germany. The oil needs always a very attentive treat- 

 ment. By a long rest some slimy part of it settles at the bottom ; 

 these dregs must be removed, or the oil would become rancid; there- 

 fore the barrels are tapped every six months, and filled anew. The 

 treatment resembles that of wine, but v^^ith this difference, that oils of 

 a finer quality can seldom be kept more than three years. 



The oil made in the district of Oneglia is better than that of 

 Southern Italy, and large quantities are refined before being exported. 

 The process of refining the oil is very simple. Large shallow tin 

 boxes are made, with small holes pierced in the bottom ; this is then 

 covered with a thin sheet of wadding. Four, five, or more of these 

 boxes are placed on frames, one over the other, and the oil being 

 poured into the top box, is allowed to soak through the wadding and 

 drop into the next box, and so on until it gets into the last, when it 

 runs off into the tanks. The wadding absorbs all the thick particles 

 contained in the oil when it comes from the mills, and leaves it per- 

 fectly clear and tasteless. The oil thus refined is almost exclusively 

 exported to Nice, where it is put into flasks, and sent all over the world 

 as " Huile de Nice." 



From the island of Crete about 2250 tuns of olive oil are shipped, 

 valued at 100,000/., and 77,000 cwts. of soap, worth as much more. 



Balearic Islands.— The tree upon which the olive is grown is found 

 wild in the mountain lands in these islands, as a shrub, producing a 

 fruit which bears no oil. When brought under cultivation grafting is 

 practised. In countries where more care is exercised in the prepara- 



