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SAMUEL RAE & CO. — LEGHORN, TUSCANY. 



Summing Up. 



To sum up, therefore, the finest olive 

 oil is obtained only from the first press- 

 ing of the olives ; but there are many 

 other conditions to be fulfilled, failing 

 any one of which the oil produced can- 

 not attain to the finest quality. The 

 fruit must be ripe and sound. It must be 

 equally free from injury by frost or 

 maggot. It must be freshly gathered 

 and promptly pressed, before any fer- 

 mentation can set in ; the water used 

 during the process must be absolutely 

 pure. The mills, presses, and utensils 

 must be clean and sweet. The olives 

 must be of the best kinds. 



It is therefore apparent that to unite 

 all these conditions is no easy matter, 

 considering also that few crops are lia- 

 ble to such injury from weather and in- 

 sects as the olive, which, moreover, is 

 gathered chiefly during winter-time, the 

 most unfavorable season of the year. 

 Hence it is that so large a part of the 

 olive oil produced in the world is of 

 very inferior quality. 



Influence of Soil. 



But beyond and above all these con- 

 ditions, the influence of soil and climate 

 in the production of the finest qualities 

 of olive oil must be taken into account. 

 It is to this cause that are largely due 

 the great differences in quality existing 

 between olive oils produced in different 

 localities. On this subject we take the 

 following from the official ' ' Report upon 

 the Conditions of Agriculture in Italy," 

 drawn up by the Italian Ministry of 

 Agriculture, Industry, and Commerce, a 

 work in three quarto volumes, embrac- 



*Ministero di Agricoltura, Induslria e Com- 

 mercio (Divisione di Agricoltura). — ''Relazione 



ing all the chief agricultural industries , 

 of Italy, to which we are indebted for 

 much valuable information. 



''There is hardly a doubt that the 

 soil, according to its different composi- 

 tion, hasan extraordinary influence on the 

 quality of the products it yields, what- 

 ever they may be ; and this influence, it 

 appears, is more marked in the case of 

 the olive-tree than in that of any other 

 agricultural product. It is a known fact 

 that the best oils are grown on a schist- 

 ous formation where lime abounds ; and 

 that, on the contrary, oil grown on clayey 

 soils, or where the soil is too poor, never 

 attains to a high degree of perfection 

 however great be the attention paid. The 

 different exposure and elevation of lo- 

 calities, moreover, and even the degree 

 of intensity of light, may to a certain 

 extent contribute to render oil more or 

 less good."* 



Too warm a climate, the Report goes 

 on to say, is not favorable to developing 

 delicacy in olive oil, but rather a temper- 

 ate climate ; hence it is that oils produced 

 in the Levant and the far south of Europe 

 are not as good as the oils produced in 

 Italy, and that amongst the latter those 

 of Tuscany, Umbria, and the Riviera are 

 of much greater merit than those of 

 Sicily, and, generally speaking, of the 

 Neapolitan Provinces, i. e., the southern 

 section of Italy. 



The influence of climate and soil on 

 the quality of olive oil, in our opinion, 

 which is confirmed by the foregoing ex- 

 tract, cannot be exaggerated. To any 

 one at all versed in the article, the 

 difference between Tuscan olive oil and 

 that produced in the districts of Bari, 

 Umbria, or Riviera is most marked. It 

 is impossible to mistake one for the 



intorno alle Condizioni dell' Agricoltura." Vol. 

 I., page 587. 



