48 



finding the injurious effect of fermentation upon the 

 market quality of the article, extract at an earlier stage, 

 and use the more rapid and effectual means of the 

 hydraulic press. 



Oil milling in Spain is a distinct industry, as is also 

 sometimes the case in other European Olive countries ; 

 hut there also are mills on many of the plantations. The 

 oil is, however, often kept for years in their big earthen 

 jars, awaiting a good market. 



Screw presses of simple construction are generally 

 used ; but the pressure is sometimes obtained by means 

 of lever, or, more rarely still, hydraulic power. 



The whole process is so admirably described by Mr. 

 Davenport, that I have taken the liberty of reducing his 

 plan, and reproducing it in these pages for the benefit 

 of Queensland colonists. To the valuable information 

 thus afforded, the same gentleman has been ^ood enough 

 to add plan and description of the receiver which he 

 uses himself. (See Illustrations U, F, and X.) 



The neat finish of the building in Mr. Davenport's 

 plan, is, of course, not essential ; and the beginner would 

 do well to content himself with a much ruder edifice. 

 Slabs, with a bark roof, would, if weather-proof, answer 

 every purpose at first ; and a more permanent building 

 could be thereafter erected out of the profits of the 

 plantation. 



In the full-page Illustration Q, I give the whole 

 interior of chamber devoted to the extraction of the oil 

 still remaining in the marc, after the first and purest has 

 been run off ; but such an establishment is as little 

 necessary for the beginner or for the Olive farmer on a 

 small scale, as a sugar plant of the value of five thousand 

 pounds would be to the cultivator of ten acres of cane. 



The gigantic stone jars shewn (see Illustration J.) 

 are capable of holding 1,200 gallons each. They are 

 called Tinajas, in Malaga, are about six feet in diameter, 

 and nine feet deep. The siuface is approached by 

 two earth steps from the door. There is a double row 

 of eight in each, said to be within an inch of each other 



