14 



THE OLIVE 



Some of the other Mediterranean countries produce oil, but it is 

 entirely consumed at home or exported from one to the other. 

 The total jDroduction of oil then is : 



Gallons. 



Italy 54,000,000 



Spain f 150,000,000 



France 9,000,000 



213,000,000 



of which Italy and Spain together furnish thirty million gallons 

 only for export. 



The population of Europe is three hundred and thirty-nine mil- 

 lions of people, more than enough to consume their own oil. 



It is plain that France is a large importer. Such is the fact. The 

 entire Spanish surplus and the hulk of that of Italy finds its way 

 into France. Hence the impudence of a French export of olive 

 oil ; its own supply being a failing one and insufficient for domestic 

 consumption. 



From these figures it is plain that California has little to fear 

 from foreign competition. In addition to this France has been 

 steadily retrograding as an oil producing country since 1793. In 

 the ten years preceding 1876, seventy-five thousand acres in the 

 Maritime Alps, abandoned olive cultivation for that of cereals, fruits, 

 flowers, the vine and the mulberry, as requiring less care and so 

 yielding a better return. 



In Africa also, the cultivation has been generally given up, the 

 climate being too humid and the latitude too far south. 



It is quite natural that with the increase of geographical knowl- 

 edge new and more favorable regions should be discovered where 

 the cultivation of this noble tree may flourish on a greater scale 

 than ever. With reason we flatter ourselves that California is such 

 a spot. Mr. Goodrich, to whose searching observation we are so 

 largely indebted, notices a marked difference in point of size between 



