398 



OLIVE OIL. 



10 degrees of cold ; but tlie produce is uncertain, on account of the 

 length of time which the fruit remains on. The olive tree grows 

 slowly, and yields no crop until it is twenty years old. The olives 

 are collected about December by beating the trees, a mode of treat- 

 ment that bruises the fruit and injures the quality of the oil ; in fact, 

 neither olives nor oil are ever so good as when picked by hand. There 

 are 168 oil mills in the district, 115 worked by water, the others by 

 horse-power. Ten gallons of good olives will yield 1 to 1.4 gallons 

 of oil, but the average quantity is about 10 per cent. There are 

 very nearly 800,000 olive trees in the country of Nice, and each 

 tree will give in a good year from 50 to 150 kilos, of olives, according 

 to size. 



There are five kinds of olive trees principally cultivated in the 

 south of France, viz., Yerdall, which yields good oil, and makes a 

 good conserve ; Blanquet, with a particularly sweet and delicate oil 

 (these two have low-growing branches, which enables them to be 

 picked by hand) ; Bouquettier, a very superior oil ; Kedouanou, 

 which stands cold well ; Olivier de Grasse yields excellent oil, but 

 grows high, and is not so well adapted for picking. 



Spain. — The oil from the olive holds a considerable place in the agri- 

 cultural produce of Spain. It is calculated that 1,000,000 hectares are 

 planted in olives. The oil is employed for every conceivable purpose, 

 and although the consumption is very great, yet the exports increase 

 year by year. Like the vine, the Spaniards are equally careless culti- 

 vators of the olive, and from want of attention the quality of the fruit 

 is injured and the yield of oil reduced. During harvest time there 

 is often a deficiency of labour, and after having knocked down the 

 olives, it is customary to leave them in great heaps, there to shrivel 

 up and ferment until the winter before extracting the oil. This 

 renders the very best oils unfitted for use in the cuisine of any other 

 country except Spain, where the tastes of the inhabitants are peculiar. 

 There is no doubt that whenever the extraction of the oil is made at 

 the proper season, and precautions are taken to avoid rancidity, there 

 will be obtained in Spain oil equally good for the table as is to be 

 procured even in Provence. 



Algeria. — The climate here is especially suited to the olive, which 

 grows spontaneously at all j)oints of the three provinces. According 

 to the latest details there are over 8,000,000 olive trees, the half of 

 which are grafted. It may be remarked here that though the fruit 

 of the grafted tree is larger and more fleshy, and contains therefore 

 more oil, that of the wild olive tree yields a finer and pleasanter kind. 

 The production of oil is increasing yearly, and there are improvements 

 noticeable in its quality. The province of Constantino furnishes 

 annually about 160,000 hectolitres, of which one-third is exported. 

 And although there are no precise details as to the other two 

 provinces, the production in these is equally considerable. 



Morocco. — The olive gardens of the south form picturesque groves 

 of great extent. Their produce constitutes the principal wealth of the 

 provinces of Haha and Sus. But the oil, probably from the imperfect 

 methods of preparing it, is greatly inferior to that of Spain and Italy. 

 It is, however, exported from Mogador in large quantities. 



