THE OLIVE IN CALIFORNIA. 



201 



All the writers whose books I have mentioned, 

 unite in predicting a future for the olive in this 

 state, beyond that of almond, fig, walnut, orange, 

 lemon, or grape. In five years more, the trees now 

 planted will attract attention, and begin to produce 

 an effect upon the American markets. In Butte 

 county alone there were 54,600 olive trees planted 

 in 1887--88 and 1888-89. This winter in that 

 county 30,000 more trees will be planted. There 

 are no reports which give the exact acreage in 

 olives in the state, but it cannot be far from 16,000 

 acres, representing a million and a half trees. 



The best pickled olives of California are, as yet, 

 seldem in market. They are an essentially home 

 product, made from a few trees in the garden, and 

 used on the owner's table. The typical California 

 five-acre homestead has a dozen olive trees, whose 

 fruit is pickled, not green, but when nearly ripe, 

 and used as daily food. Mission olives, properly 

 treated, make a pickle far superior to any imported 

 olive. Some of the new varieties will be even bet- 

 ter for the home supply. But with oil making, the 

 orchard 'ought to be large, and even then it would 

 be best to sell the olives to the oil mills, unless the 

 same skill and judgment that go to the making of 

 fine wines can be obtained. 



The olive trees that still stand about the mission 

 gardens rank among the most picturesque memo- 

 rials of the last century. I have seen a great many 



of them, sometimes alone, sometimes grouped with 

 oranges and palms. At the old San Diego Mission 

 they stand in long avenues on the river bottom be- 

 low the ruined adobes — grand trees, a hundred and 

 twenty years old, wasted by fire and axe, but wonder- 

 fully fruitful, and noble in their neglected disarray. 

 The old olive avenue behind the church at the Mission 

 San Jose, in Alameda county, some 35 miles from 

 San Francisco, marks another of the famous priest- 

 gardens of the past. In this old grove there are 

 several varieties of olive, some of which ripen much 

 earlier than others. Olives were planted by Span- 

 iards in many other places. Old trees often stood 

 on the larger ranches. I remember seeing olives 

 beside the broken walls of lonely adobes on some of 

 the famous ranches of Santa Barbara and San Luis 

 Obispo — olives as enduring as the live oaks, stand- 

 ing in the midst of wide, unfilled pastures, to mark 

 the fallen homestead of some Spanish gentleman. 



If a group of capitalists were looking for a safe 

 and permanent investment, they could find nothing 

 better in California than the planting of a large 

 olivarium or olive orchard. It ought to be cheap 

 mountain land, costing not more than ten dollars 

 an acre, planted with the best varieties, and care- 

 fully cultivated. With a practical manager, no 

 better dividend-paying investment could be found 

 in the United States. 



Califortiia. Charles H. Shinn. 



A PROTEST AGAINST THE "NOVELTIES." 



LTHOUGH I have been many 

 years in my present business, 

 and have had much experience 

 in selecting seeds, yet there is 

 no part of my entire year's 

 work that I attend to with such 

 a dislike, as the selection of 



seeds and plants. There is occasionally a new 

 variety of either vegetables or fruit that is a de- 

 cided acquisition, and we are perfectly willing to 

 pay something extra to get it. But what about 

 this endless host that come and go like summer 

 showers ? How shall we tell whether we are get- 

 ting something really valuable or something that is 

 even poorer than the old standard varieties ? I 

 confess that I cannot tell ; and after studying a 

 great number of catalogues, and selecting a few of 

 the new varieties of seeds or plants, as a general 

 rule I find at the close of the season, if not sooner, 

 that I have made a mistake, and that the so-called 

 new sorts are not so good as old friends. I know 



of but one way to do, and that is to stick closely to 

 the old standard varieties. 



Take the strawberry as an example. I got a 

 few Wilson plants in either i860 or 1861. I soon 

 found that valuable as they were, and still are, 

 where they are properly cared for, they were not 

 absolutely perfect although they were a great im 

 provement over any variety then in existence. Soon 

 new varieties came with every spring and fall, and 

 I commenced buying and testing them ; and scarce 

 ly a year has passed since that time, that I have 

 not plowed under from one to a dozen new varieties 

 that I had spent time and money upon. To-day I 

 can say that I have never had any strawberry plants 

 that were equal to the Wilson, in all respects, un- 

 less it may be some of those I am now testing. 



Let me be distinctly understood. I do not ob- 

 ject to new and valuable varieties, but I do object to 

 such an avalanche every year, with so small a pro- 

 portion of any true value. 



Wisconsin. J. M. Smith. 



