200 



THE OLIVE IN CALIFORNIA. 



localities given where they have already fruited, 

 by E. J. Wickson, •in his work on "California 

 Fruits." 



For years the oil of Santa Barbara and San 

 Diego was justly esteemed as the finest, but the 

 younger orchards are gaining rank, and during the 



have even born thirty gallons. Mr. Flamant, of 

 Napa, expects from six to ten gallons from six-year-old 

 trees, worth for pickles one dollar a gallon, which 

 nets him about five dollars a tree, after allowing for 

 cost of picking. There can be no doubt what- 

 ever of the earlier bearing of the olive in California 



than across the Atlantic, 

 as evidence on this point 

 is overwhelming. The 

 eight-year-old California 

 tree yields more than the 

 fifteen-year-old tree in 

 Europe. Some of the 

 old Mission olive trees 

 have yielded one hundred 

 and fifty gallons of ber- 

 ries apiece. Oil pays bet- 

 ter than pickling. El- 

 wood Cooper reports 

 sales at from $i,ooo to 

 ^2,000 per acre, and he 

 thinks these prices will 

 continue. There is an 

 enormous and a stilj in- 



The Saillern Olive 



last two years an oil equal to the best has been 

 produced in Santa Clara Mission, San Jose, Liver- 

 more, Napa, Sonoma, Butte and other parts of the 

 state. 



The olive requires, so writers say, 7,160 degrees 

 of heat from the time the tree blossoms till the 

 frosts come. At Oroville, Butte county, the aver- 

 age degrees of heat between April and November 

 gives a total of 13,740. The slopes of the Sierras 

 and coast range, as far north as Trinity and central 

 Shasta, are warm enough for at least the early 

 ripening sorts of olive. A little snow for a few 

 days during winter does not injure the tree. In 

 Butte, Tehama, Placer, Yuba and Nevada, all 

 northern Sierra counties, there are now large olive 

 orchards just coming into bearing. Some are on 

 sandy bottom soils ; others are on thin red lands, 

 over hard pan, and still others are over limestone, 

 slate, granite, or sandstone rock overlaid with a few 

 inches of light warm soil. 



Elwood Cooper, of Santa Barbara, reports an 

 average yield of two gallons of olives from each of his 

 four-year-old trees, and a few of his six-year-olds 



The Picholine Olive. 



creasing demand for pure olive oil. After making 

 every possible discount for lower prices, the olive 

 is still the most profitable crop that the horticul- 

 ture of California has tested. Its culture requires 

 capital, patience and skill, but the rewards are com- 

 mensurate, and greater than for other fruits. 



