35 



whose picturesque villages gladden the weary mariner on his return to the 

 bosom of his wife and children; that garden spot of unsurpassed beauty, 

 in whose balmy atmosphere queens and emperors seek rest and health, 

 was once nothing more than a rugged and stony region, and it was con- 

 verted into an olive grove of more than one hundred miles in extent, because 

 nothing else could then be grown on it. 



It is, however, a great error to suppose, as many do in this country, that 

 the olive will thrive on poor as on good soil without helping it with the 

 proper food or fertilizer. A horse cannot fatten on straw as on barley. 

 Wherever the almond tree will bloom the olive will succeed with a greater 

 certainty, except in damp localities and atmosphere, as foggy districts gen- 

 erally are, for they breed the worst diseases and the most disastrous insects. 

 There is but one variety of the olive family profitably cultivated in foggy 

 districts. 



An excessive heat is not as damaging to the olive as an excessive cold. 

 Sudden changes of atmosphere are injurious at all times, particularly dur- 

 ing the fruit season. 



On level and low ground the tree grows more vigorously and bears larger 

 berries; its oil is greasy and coarse but more abundant. On high and 

 rolling soil of identical formation the same variety of trees grows of lesser 

 size; the berries are proportionally smaller, but the oil is of a much finer 

 grade. The compensation between low and high elevation may thus be 

 considered about the same. 



In the central and northern parts of Italy, where the winter temperature 

 is certainly more severe on an average than in Central and Northern Cali- 

 fornia as far as Mendocino and Shasta Counties, the olive culture is profit- 

 able as high as one thousand five hundred feet from the sea level. The 

 olive belt rises as we proceed toward the south, where in Sicily it reaches 

 an elevation of two thousand nine hundred feet. 



The olive puts forth at 53 degrees Fahrenheit, it blooms at 68, it fruits 

 at 72. It is thus seen that a locality in which at the time of blooming and 

 fruiting the temperature does not reach such degrees is unfit for olive cul- 

 ture. On the other hand, the olive will bear no fruit where heat reaches 

 120 degrees. 



In dry weather cold will affect the tree only at 20 or 25 degrees below 

 zero; but in damp weather, if the soil and leaves are wet, frost may dam- 

 age the tree at 5 or 6 degrees. 



Any position is equally good for the olive. In very warm localities, how- 

 ever, a western position is to be preferred, while for cold places a southeastern 

 inclination is the best. In all localities exposed to the damaging north 

 wind a western facing is also to be desired, for it is the evening sun that 

 often saves us from a visit of king frost during the night. 



THE BEST VARIETIES. 



As in the case of vines, different olive trees produce a different oil, 

 although, for the nature of things, the difference is never so marked as in 

 wine. 



There are about thirty different species cultivated in Italy, among which 

 the Olivastro, progenitor of the California mission olive, and the Leccino, 

 known also under the name of Picholine. 



The first has a good sized berry, but is one of the poorest bearers; and 

 its oil, characterized for its bitterish taste, never reaches 13 per cent in 

 quantity. The Picholine has a much smaller berry, but is a better pro- 

 ducer; and its oil, although never ranked among the finest qualities, is far 



