82 THE TROPICAL AGEICULTURIST, [Aug. 1, 1902. 
Gathered too long before their matnrity the oil ex- 
tracted has these same disagreeable quantities, and 
it is therefore necessary to recognize with certainty 
the proper moment for taking them from the trees. 
At first green, they become yellow, then red and 
finally reddish brown, at which poiot they have 
arrived at the desired state of maturity, The olives 
found upon the ground are placed aside, and 
the trees are then shaken in order that the 
completely ripe fruit may also fall and be put apart. 
The oil extracted from these olives is of inferior 
quality and has the flavor of the fruit itself. The olives 
remaining upon the tree are either picked by hand 
or beaten with long poles. The latter method is dis- 
countenanced, as the fruit is thereby necessarily 
bruised, with disastrous consequences to the oil, and 
the trees themselves give a less abundant yield there- 
after. This system is so expeditious, however, that in 
a large proportion of cases the trees are beaten and the 
fruit falls into sheets held beneath for the purpose. 
An olive tree ten years old should yield about six 
pounds of fresh olives, and at twice that age twice 
that quantity and at the age fifty years from twenty- 
two to twenty-six pounds. 
In the south of France and Italy the crop of olives is 
gathered in large sheets and transported to ware- 
houses or cellers, and there laid in beds six to 
eight inches in thickness. They remain for from 
twenty-four to forty-eight hours, until they com- 
mence to wrinkle and lose a little of their water, 
but not Euf&'jiently long to permit fermentation to 
begin. In other countries, and particularly in Spain, 
the habit is general to store the fruit in piles, 
where it remains for from twelve to fifteen days. 
A black water is drawn from this mass which heats 
and ferments. Before the fermentation proceeds too 
far, a point which is decided by thermometrical 
test, the manufacture of the oil begins. The piles 
should not exceed six feet six inches in height. 
The extraction of oil from olives thus manipulated 
is easier than otherwise, as the cells containing the 
oil are less resistant, but the oil has a strong odor 
and is less desirable than that of more carefully 
handled fruit. 
The manufacture of the oil, properly speaking, 
begins with the crushing of the fruit, which usually 
takes place in an old-fashioned mill. The crushed 
fruit is placed in round mats, of which twenty-two 
are usually placed one above the other, the weight 
of olives ranging about 105 pounds. The first preo- 
sure being applied for the virgin oil, the oil and 
water drain into tubs, the proportion being 72 per 
cent, of water and 28 per cent, of oil. The virgin 
oil is set aside, and the mats, removed from the 
press, are bent back and forth by hand, some of the 
manufacturers pouring a quart of hot water upon 
each mat, after which the twenty-two are placed in 
a h^nd or hydraulic press and the second pressure 
applied. The oil and water are drained into tubs, 
aa with the virgin oil. The pulp remaining in the 
mats is removed, and by a single mechanical pro- 
cess, which takes place in a separator, the kernels 
are separatee! from the pulp, from which latter a 
third and very low grade of oil is obtained by 
chemical process. This process is rarely carried on 
by the olive growers, as it requires complicated ap- 
paratus. Both pulp and stones have a regular market 
price, however, and are manipulated in Marseilles on 
a large scale. The local cultivator occupies himself 
with the first and second crushings of the olive only. 
The oil in the tubs, as it comes from the press 
is carefully skimmed and placed in barrels. After 
all the oil of the surface has been skimmed, ap- 
parently, the water itself is poured into stone or 
tile cisterns, caiHed the "enfer, " where it remains 
three or foui' months. In the course of thia period 
a considerable quantity of oil in suspension mounts 
to the surface and is also skimmed off and sold as 
" huile d'enfer." Its odor is very strong and the 
price ia low. The oil of the first pressing, or the 
virgin oil, and the oil of the second pressing are always 
kept separate and sold for what they are. They are 
decanted three or four times from one barrel to 
another, and finally deposited in huge earthenware 
jars, where they remain until spring, and are then 
decanted for the last time into barrels and offered for 
sale in the market. 
The successful manufacturers and exporters of olive 
oil find their raw material wherever they can, having 
buyers who scour France, Italy, Spain and Tunis, 
and the success of the business hinges mainly upon 
the tasting capacity of the head of the house, whose 
work begins after the oil has been pronounced upon by 
chemical analysis. 
The most important operation in the treatment 
of the crude oil is its Alteration. While the various 
nut and seed oils are now readily freed of the man- 
garin in suspension by subjection to a low tempera- 
ture, this process cannot be successfully followed in 
the case of olive oil, which is a much more deli- 
cate product. Until comparatively recently the 
packers of olive oil filtered it through cotton, and 
probably the majority of packers cling to the old 
system mainly because of the expense of the 
improved paper filters. Exce'lent results are 
obtained by passing the oil through cotton, but the 
process is slower, tmd the cotton itself absorbs large 
quantities of the oil which cannot be expressed and 
used, except as an inferior product. It is now 
generally agreed that no more satisfactory filtering 
material has been found than specially prepared 
paper, and the oil is passed through paper either 
by means of force pumps, hydraulic pressure or the ap- 
plication of the stand-pipe principle, the pressure upon 
the paper depending upon the height from which the 
oil is injected into the apparatus, — Braclstreet's. 
PLANTING NOTES. 
Earth-nuts in Uganda, &c. — It appears that these 
Nuts can with ease and profit be grown in East Africa 
— 30 says the East Africa and Uganda Mail of a 
recent date. In British India 46,000 acces are under 
cultivation ynih this nut. In the native stites of 
India over 16,000 acres are under the same culture, 
and this area will yield nearly 11,0,00 tons ; and the 
journal noted is of opinion that after satisfying the 
home demand, sufficient would be left to pay for 
exportation to Eng'and and elsewhere. — Gardeners' 
Chronicle 
Maetincjue. — The following extract from a private 
letter to one of our correspondents bears witness to 
the beauty of the stricken Island: — " The scenery of 
Jamaica and Oubx cannot be compared with that of 
Martinique and Dominica ; my pen cannot adequately 
describe the beauties of IMartinique, rising smartly 
out of the sea, and its mountains towering away np 
into the skies 1 Dominica, too, ia sublimely beautiful, 
with its deep gorges and primeval forests. Tremors 
have been felt in Dominica, and a lake on the top 
of a mountain is said tj have gone dry, so that 
thoy are evidently within the seismic sphere of dis- 
turbance-" — Ibid. 
DoRVANTHES As A FooD FOR PiGS. — Accordiug to 
the Agricultural Gazette of New South IFales, the 
Giant " Lily " (Doryanthea excelsa^ has been sug- 
gested as a useful food for pigs. Analyses have 
been made of the bulbs of the plant (here so prized, 
but in the upper IMangrove district growing wildj, to 
see if it would be valuable for fodder when other 
foods are scarce. It is considered that the bulbs- 
compare very favourably as to feeding va'ues with 
ordinary root crops, and that, provided they are 
found palatable, they should prove fairly nourish- 
ing ; superior, indeed, in thia respect to Parsnips, 
Beets, and Turnips. But New South Wales swine do 
not consider the Lily-Bulbs eatable when raw, but 
prefer them boiled and mixed with a few handfula 
of ground Maize. So aervod " the pigs consume (t)^^ 
mixture greedil/i"— Ibid, 
