45 



INFLUENCE OF TEMPERATURE. 



You have been told by all sorts of authorities that the oil of the south is 

 not as good as the oil of the north. This is only partially true. As already 

 intimated, temperature is a most wonderful agent; the same plant, the same 

 temperature of elevation, the same system of treatment, the same degree 

 in the preserving and in the crushing room produces an identical oil in 

 the south as in the north. The olive is never influenced by the soil as much 

 as the vine is. It is the proper application of temperature that makes 

 to-day, all things being equal, the oil of Riviera, Umbria, Apulia, Sicily, in 

 fact of all olive districts of Italy, as fine and appreciated as the deservedly 

 celebrated Lucca. 



PROFIT OF OLIVE CULTURE. 



The oil market in Italy is rarely affected by the amount of the crop. 

 The barometer of quotations is the quality, not the quantity. Virgin is 

 quoted, on an average, from $1 80 to $2 10 per gallon; of second qualitv, 

 $1 25to$l 75; of inferior trees, $1 to $1 15; third quality, 85 cents to $1 ; 

 refined oils, about the same price. 



The average value of the crop of the best varieties is considered as 

 follows: Each tree, at ten years, $3 50 per annum; at sixteen, $5 50; at 

 twenty, $7 50; at thirty, $13; at forty, $18; at fifty, $24. There are cer- 

 tainly a great many exceptions below and above — trees that produce only 

 five gallons of berries, and trees that go as high as three hundred gallons; 

 but such are the calculations of competent agronomists. 



It is thus seen what a blessing an olive plantation of seven hundred or 

 eight hundred trees is for a family and its posterity. It may seem a small 

 thing to you, accustomed, as you are, to broad acres; but in Italy they con- 

 stitute almost the only happy patrimony of thousands of wealthy families. 



SAMPLES. 



You have invited me, Mr. President, as you have already stated at the 

 opening of this convention, to bring samples of oil and olives of Italy, to 

 be compared with the corresponding product of California. You were so 

 kind as to state in your invitation, for my guidance, that the picking of 

 your samples of olives would have taken place on the fifteenth of October. 

 Although this was a marked disadvantage for Italy's product, because in 

 that country, as I have stated, the olives, as other fruit, does not mature 

 as early as in California, and, consequently, could not be as fully developed 

 as your olives of the same date, I accepted, and left no stone unturned, I 

 assure you, to bring before this body, at a cost of over $100, samples of oil, 

 and all kinds of olives mentioned by me, from nearly every oil district of 

 Italy. 



Unfortunately, my request, for reasons yet unknown to me, was not fully 

 complied with, and the samples delayed on the way. Besides, they were 

 neglectfully forwarded without the proper bill of lading or the necessary 

 consular certificate as to their value, and there was another delay in New 

 York, where they arrived on the fifth instant. There was no possibility, 

 by the time I received the notification on the fourteenth instant, of having 

 them in time for this convention, and I was thus compelled to come, in 

 order to not fail to my promise, without the samples. As a proof of my 

 earnestness I can only beg the permission to present for your examination 

 the letters of the managers of the European-American Express in Havre 

 and New York, referring to the subject. 



