64 



this so called Picholine is all over this State; it has been planted largely, 

 and the question is what to do with it. The oil that is made from the 

 Picholine I believe is of fair quality, but I think the records will prove that it 

 is of poorer yield, and my best recollection of the yield given at the orchard 

 planted by Mr. Gould at Auburn only amounted to something like one gal- 

 lon per hundred pounds two years ago, and this year I have learned it has 

 been almost the same. This I believe is very unsatisfactory, and although 

 there may be olives that are not any larger that are very fine oil olives, this 

 evidently does not seem to come up to the standard. Now, before going 

 further, there is one point that I think ought to be settled. If it is to be 

 used, and cannot be used as a direct producer, it has to be budded or 

 grafted. The question is, then: Is it valuable for that purpose? I should 

 like to ascertain from Mr. Butler, and from others who have grown the 

 variety, if it compares in vigor and size with the Mission. My observation 

 is, it does; if so, I see no objection to using it as a grafting stock; but if, 

 as I understood as it was stated, that it was rather a small tree, it will be 

 objectionable. 



Mr. Butler: As far as my observations have gone, and I must confess I 

 have given but very little attention to the tree, as I grew them for ornament 

 chiefly, I have neglected it very greatly in comparison to other trees. The 

 Picholine is a vigorous tree with me, and the foliage is very different from 

 that on the Mission; the leaf of the Mission is more elongated, while on 

 the Picholine it is shorter and seems to be rather thick; it looks more dense, 

 and I should take it to be quite as vigorous a grower as the other, and see 

 no reason why it would not be desirable to bud on. But I see other people 

 here planting whole orchards of the Picholine; it seems as if some people 

 were making a serious mistake, and we see some people budding over to 

 the Picholine. We get so many different opinions, it is necessary to get 

 statistics to know what should be produced. I have dealt in olive oil for 

 many years, and made a specialty for twenty-five years of the finest oils 

 imported. The firm of Crosse & Black well are known all over the world 

 as one of the biggest houses, the largest in their specialties, and for putting 

 up the very best quality of everything they touch, and their special brand 

 is the Lucca oil. There is another oil which is imported on this coast by 

 a house in San Francisco called Barton and Guestier. It is well known 

 as one of the best oils on this coast in commerce or trade, and that is what 

 we are dealing with, gentlemen; we are not dealing in any fancy article 

 that somebody may get up and call superior to anything else, and these 

 are the best brands of imported oils, and our President here manufacturing 

 oil on this coast, let me make some comparison from a commercial point 

 of view; we have oil here, the finest that is retailed, from sixty-five to 

 seventy-five cents a bottle, and we have an oil manufactured by our Presi- 

 dent that he can sell at two dollars per bottle at wholesale, having a 

 demand for more than he can produce. Now, can he or anybody else 

 delude the people of this country so that they will pay him more than 

 double the price for oil so much inferior in quality to the best which is 

 manufactured in Italy? 



Mr. Stabler: Will you explain the kind of soil you planted your trees 

 in, and whether you succeeded in growing other kinds of fruit to the same 

 age without irrigation? 



Mr. Butler: It is a good, thick soil, from two to three feet deep, with a 

 granite base; that is, you can dig with a pick and go down to an indefinite 

 depth. It is the soil upon which we grow peaches in Placer County, we 

 think, as fine as they can be produced in this or any other country. We 

 irrigate heavily there ; in the summer there is very little moisture in the 



