SAMUEL RAE & CO. LEGHORN, TUSCANY. 



Elsewhere the olives are gathered as 

 they fall to the ground from ripeness, 

 or are blown down. After a high wind 

 the turf beneath the olive-trees is often 

 strewed deep with olives. Where fine 

 oil is made, the olives are quickly gath- 

 ered up by women and taken at once 

 to the olive mill, and a selection is 

 made of the sound and unsound fruit. 

 Should the fruit remain any time on 

 the ground, it deteriorates greatly, pro- 

 ducing defective oil. 



Yield of Oil. 



The yield of oil obtained from a 

 given weight of olives ranges between 

 fourteen and twenty per cent., accord- 

 ing to the ripeness and variety of the 

 fruit ; eighteen to twenty per cent, is 

 obtained from fine olives of the best 

 sort. 



Taking an olive plantation in Tusca- 

 ny, where the trees are well grown and 

 in full bearing, it is estimated that, in 

 a good season, the return of oil should 

 average from one to one and one-half 

 gallons per tree. As a rule, a tree 

 which has a good show of fruit will 

 in the ensuing season carry little or 

 none. 



Ripe and Unripe Fruit. 



The oil obtained from unripe fruit is 

 of a greenish shade and has a rough, 

 peppery taste. Over-ripe olives yield 

 a very pale oil, deficient in flavor, 'and, 

 if not already rancid, liable to become 

 so very soon. It stands to reason that 

 the best oil should be that obtained 

 from olives which have just attained 

 the proper degree of ripeness. Such oil 

 is of a fine golden color and possesses 

 a delicate taste of the fruit. 



Fine and Common Oil. 



There are of course in olive oil, as in 

 any other product of the soil, many 

 degrees of fineness ; but, broadly stated, 

 the difference between fine and common 

 olive oil, as these terms are understood 

 in Tuscany, is due to the condition of 

 the fruit when pressed and to the 

 diligence used in the process of oil- 

 making. 



To obtain fine oil, the fruit must be 

 sound, freshly gathered, and promptly 

 crushed and pressed before any fermen- 

 tation can ensue. Moreover, a supply 

 of pure water is indispensable, and 

 the mills, presses, and various utensils 

 required must be absolutely sweet 

 and clean, while a constant attention 

 to details is essential. 



Common oil is the result of the ab- 

 sence of one or all of these conditions. 

 In those districts of south Italy and Sic- 

 ily where common olive oil is largely 

 produced, hardly fit for anything but 

 manufacturing purposes, even should 

 the olives be sound when they leave 

 the tree, they often lie on the ground 

 for a considerable time from want of 

 hands to gather them. More often still, 

 the fruit is kept for some weeks before 

 being crushed, in the mistaken belief 

 that the fermentation which ensues 

 causes an increased yield of oil. 



Cato, writing more than a century be- 

 fore Christ, inhistreatise "Dererustica," 

 combats this very notion, ' ' It is not to 

 be believed,'' he says, ''that oil increases 

 (by keepingtheolives)inthe store-house; 

 but ratherthat it diminishes and becomes 

 of the worst quality." Columella pro- 

 nounced it ' ' as unfounded as that wheat 

 could increase in the granary." Not- 

 withstanding, this fallacy is still enter- 

 tained in some sections of southern 



