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CHAPTER XII. 



" And wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine." — 



Psalms 104 vs. 15. 



A short quotation from the distinguished Prof. Cupari, of the 

 University of Pisa, will give a clear idea of what is somewhat inac- 

 curately called oil making, and correct a common error in regard 

 to the process. He says, in his lesson on agriculture, "Olive oil is 

 not like the juice of the grape, which requires a chemical process to 

 transform the sugar it contains into alcohol, in order that it may 

 become wine ; the oil is there, ready made within the fruit, and the 

 utmost that can be done is to extract it, just as it is, bursting the 

 cells within which it is enclosed, by crushing the olives and then 

 pressing them." "Olive oil is found, not made." 



One may fail to extract it, one may injure it in the process, it 

 may lose in quality or even become rancid by careless handling or 

 storage, but the one and only object of the oil mill is to extract, 

 clarify and store the oil, while experience and skill will undoubtedly 

 add much to the result of a given olive harvest, the fact remains 

 that the oil is made and in the berry. A mortar and pestle will 

 crush olives and the oil and water can be strained out, through cloth 

 or crash by hand. The difference is not of process but of quantity 

 to be dealt with. This should be clearly understood in California, 

 as this interest grows. It is not beyond credence that the happy 

 possessor of a few producing olive trees would be willing to devote 

 the time and labor necessary to extracting his own oil for household 

 use, with the simplest of home machinery and especially when the 

 physician tells him the value of olive oil as both medicine and food; 



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