594 
THE  TKOPICAL  AGRICULTUKIS  T.  (March  i,  1897. 
factories  of  Grasse,  which  consume  a p;ioat  quantity 
of  cultivated  and  wild  flowers,  as  well  as  a oinatio 
plants  grown  on  the  coast,  and  among  the  mountains 
of  the  department.  The  Acting  British  Consul  at 
Nice,  in  his  last  report,  states  that  the  department 
contains  373,800  hectares  (hectare=  247  acres),  of 
which  73,764  hectares  are  ploughed  land,  61,4  H 
hectares  are  planted  in  vines,  19,513  hectares  in 
timber,  20,774  hectares  are  meadows,  and  90,000 
hectares  grazing  giound,  or  “ Alpes  ; ” of  the  remaining 
territory,  55.942  hectares  are  built  over,  or  used  for 
roads  and  ways  of  communication,  while  .52,363  hectares 
are  uncultivated,  or  barren.  The  soil  is  naturally 
fertile,  and  produces  well  where  it  can  be  irrigated 
by  means  of  the  canals.  A great  deal  of  the  cultivation 
is  done  on  the  terraces  made  on  the  mountain  sides, 
every  kind  of  crop  being  grown  on  them,  from  olives 
to  cereals.  Wheat,  ineslin,  rye,  barley,  and  oats  are 
grown,  but  not  to  any  very  great  extent.  In  1894, 
20,941  hectares  out  of  61,414  hectares  planted  in  vines, 
gave  36,298  litres  of  wine,  ns  against  an  average  of 
49,092  litres.  The  wine  produced  1895  was  very  abundant, 
but  not  of  such  good  quality  as  vintage  of  1894. 
The  wines,  as  a rule,  inferior,  but  near  Bellet  they 
make  a wine  which  some  consider  excellent.  Besides 
the  wine  grown  in  the  country,  and  the  rins  fins 
in-ported  for  the  consumption  of  the  well-to-do  classes 
and  foreign  visitors,  large  quantities  of  inferior 
wines  are  imported  from  Spam  and  Algeria  into 
Nice,  Cannes,  Antibe’,  and  Mentone.  The=-e  wines 
are  often  doctored,  and  generally  are  what  is  termed 
platr^.,  and  are  not  very  wholesome.  There  is  more 
wine  drunk  per  head  of  Ihe  population  in  Nice  than 
in  any  town  of  France.  Market  gardening  is  carried 
on  chiefly  near  Nice,  towards  the  Var,  at  St. 
Laurent-du-Var,  Gagnes,  Antibes,  Vallauris,  and 
Cannes.  Some  of  the  gardeners  make  a specialty 
of  primeurn  for  the  London  and  Paris  markets.  At 
Nice  there  is  a trade  in  dried  vegetables.  These,  as 
well  as  candied  fruits,  are  largely  sent  to  Bordeaux, 
from  whence  they  are  exported  to  England.  Fruit 
culture  has  made  great  strides  of  late  years,  owing 
to  the  extension  of  the  candied  fruit  trade.  Among 
the  fruit  trees  whose  cultivation  can  be  considered 
of  the  first  importance  come  the  peach,  the  fig,  the 
plum,  cherry,  orange,  and,  at  Mentone,  the  lemon. 
The  olive  tree  of  the  Riviera  is  cultivated  for  its 
oil.  The  dry  and  calcareous  nature  of  the  soil  being 
admirably  suited  to  the  cultivation  of  the  peach,  the 
Fersica  Anisden  Ptintc,  a native  of  the  United  States, 
is  successfully  grown  in  the  open  air,  the  fruit  ripen- 
ing from  about  .June  1 to  June  10;  the  peach  tree 
suffers  principally  from  the  presence  of  ants.  The 
fig  tree  is  much  cultivated  in  the  depart-ment,  and 
its  fruit  is  both  sold  fresh  in  the  market,  or  candied 
and  dried.  The  dried  figs  of  Nice  are  consumed 
locally.  Three  lb.  of  fresh  figs  give  one  lb.  ot  dried 
figs.  Dried  figs  of  prime  (pialitv  fetch  from  40  to  60 
francs  the  100  kilogrammes.  The  Arabs  of  Algeria 
manufacture  a kind  of  spirit,  known  as  Iraki,  from 
the  dried  figs,  and  the  peasantry  of  Nice  and  the 
Genoese  Riviera  make  a kind  of  sweet  wine  from 
this  fruit.  The  tree  gives  two  crops  every  year.  It 
requires  careful  cultivation,  and  to  be  judiciously  cut. 
Like  all  other  fruit  trees  in  the  Riviera,  the  fig 
suffers  greatly  from  insects.  Cherries  are  very  plentJnl, 
and  the  fruit  is  largely  used  locally  in  the  manufacture 
of  bonbons,  preseived  in  brandy  and  candied.  The 
crop  has  not  been  so  good  this  year  as  in  1895  or 
1894.  Orange  and  lemon  trees  are  largely  cultivated 
all  over  the  coast  districts;  besides  the  climate,  the 
soil  is  very  favour.alile  to  these  trees,  as  they  require 
a calcareous  one,  rich  in  lime  and  potassium.  They 
generally  die,  if  the  temperature  falls  below  23° 
Fahrenheit.  The  common  orange  tree,  cultivated  at 
and  near  Nice  (the  Citrus  aurantium),  produces  its 
maximum  at  about  20  years  of  age.  This  may  be 
calculated  at  600  to  1,000  oranges  per  annum,  1,000 
oranges  weighing  about  150  kilo-grammes.  They  are, 
however,  principally  cultivated  for  their  fi  nvers,  which 
are  sold  at  40  centimes  per  kilogramnn,  or  about 
twopence  per  lb.  With  the  skins  of  th  • orange  an 
essential  oil  is  made,  both  at  Nice  and  Grasse,  which 
is  called  essence  do  Portugal.  The  bitter  orange 
tree,  or  Citrus  lliijariiia,  is  cultivated  for  its  flowers, 
which  produce  a kind  of  water  mac_3  used  in  Trance 
oallel  rati  ilo  Jl-.ur  d'  oramir,  aiul  aLo  an  essence 
The  skins  of  these  oranges  are  dried  in  the  sun, 
and  are  exported  to  England,  where  they  are  used 
for  making  cakes  and  puddings.  Dr.  Emile  Sauvaigo, 
in  his  book,  “Les  Cultures  sur  le  Littoral  Medit- 
erranean, " estimates  that  the  average  annual  income 
in  the  Alpes  Maritmes  derived  from  the  cultivation 
of  the  olive,  is  t;320,000.  In  spite  of  this,  the  cultivation 
is  cn  the  decline.  Dr.  Sauvaigo  gives  the  following 
reasons  for  this — “ The  competition  of  grain  oils,  such 
as  cotton  seed,  Ac.,  and  the  numerous  frauds  and 
adulterations  practised  in  the  olive  oil  trade,  and 
besides  these  there  are  the  dearness  of  labour,  faulty 
pruning  and  in.sufficieiit,  rnamiring,  and  last,  bnt 
not  least,  the  increase  of  the  parasites  of  the  olive 
tree.  ” The  tree  growe  best  on  slopes,  and  prefers  a 
dry  soil,  rich  in  carbonates  of  potassium,  lime,  and 
magnesia.  It  suffers  from  cold,  and  dies  at  14° 
Fahrenheit.  On  the  Riviera,  a tree  planted  from  a 
seed  begins  to  bear  fruit  in  about  13  to  14  years, 
and  those  planted  from  cuttings  in  about  8 years. 
It  flowers  ill  April.  In  August,  when  the  fruit  is 
well-formed,  it  suffers  most  from  its  enemy  the 
Keiroun.  One  of  the  most  difficult  things  in  olive 
cub  lire  is  the  pruning  of  the  trees,  and  this  has  to 
be  done  as  soon  as  the  crop  has  been  gathered,  <r 
alter  severe  cold  weather.  As  regards  reproduction 
(and  this,  says  Consul  Jerome,  may  be  of  special 
interest,  as  on  onq  or  two  occasions  the  consulate 
has  been  asked  by  the  London  representatives  of 
Colonial  Government  to  obtain  seeds  and  young  grafted 
olive  25lants,  to  be  sent  to  the  Colonies  for  plantation), 
this  is  effected,  first  by  seeds.  The  ripest  and  finest 
olives  are  chosen,  the  stones  are  separated  from  the 
pulij,  and  they  aie  spread  out  to  dry  in  the  autumn, 
and  planted  in  the  spring.  Thej'  take  about  a year 
to  come  up,  but  if  the  stones  are  broken,  without  any 
damage  being  done  to  the  kernels,  and  by  so'.viiig 
these  ill  February  or  March,  the  young  plant  makes 
its  appearance  much  sooner.  The  seedlings,  after 
having  been  kept  in  a nursery  garden  for  about  four 
years  are  grafted.  Dr.  Sauvaigo  recommends  graftings 
on  the  wild  olive  (oleaster),  or  on  suckers,  and  these 
should  be  chosen  as  far  from  the  jiarent  tree  as  possible. 
Olivo  trees;  are  also  reproduced  from  cuttings.  In  all 
cases  care  must  be  exercised  that  the  young  jilants 
should  be  taken  from  the  nur.ieiies  just  before  winter 
or  the  rainy  season,  so  that  ihey  should  benefi  bv 
the  natural  moisture  of  the  soil.  The  crop  is  gathered 
by  women  and  children  at  the  rate  of  1 franc  to  1 
franc  50  cenlinies  per  day.  The  fallen  fruit  is  picked 
up  under  the  trees  during  the  winter,  and  in  April 
or  May  the  trees  are  beaten.  If  the  olives  cannot 
be  imnio-diately  taken  to  the  mil',  they  are  stored 
in  heaps,  which  have  to  be  stirred  to  prevent 
fermentation.  The  olives  are  usually  sold  to  the 
manufactures  of  olive  oil,  at  the  rate  of  from  two  to 
four  francs  the  dnible  decalitre  (20  litres),  according 
to  the  quality'.  The  oil  produced  at  the  mill  can  be 
divided  into  srveral  kinds:— (1)  Virgin  oil,  or  the  oil 
pressed  out  and  care  ully  filtered  several  times;  (2) 
the  first  quality  oil  of  commerce,  or  the  oil  scalded 
in  vats,  which  is  a much  quicker  process,  but  somewhat 
spoils  the  quality  of  the  oil;  (3)  Huile.  de  ressence, 
or  refuse  oil,  used  as  a rude  soft  of  lubricator  oil 
by  the  peasantry.  An  olive  orchard  brings  in  an 
average  income  of  £20  per  annum  for  each  hectare, 
and  the  land  is  valued  at  from  £200  to  £180  2>cr 
hectare.  The  diseases  the  tree  suffers  from  are 
numerous,  the  most  formidable  being  known  in  the 
district  as  l<i  fuiiuuiine,  caused  by  a small  fungus. 
The  nulls  where  the  olive  oil  is  made  are,  as  far. 
as  machinery  goes,  of  a very  irrimitive  ch.iracter, 
generally  driven  by  water  wheels.  These  are  defective 
in  construc-tion,  and  the  fall  of  the  water  badly 
arra'  ged.  Tlie  machinery  inside  the  mills  is  made 
of  clumsy  wooden  cogs  and  contrivances.  Consul 
Jcrime  sayi  he  is  sure  that  imiiroved  machinery  for 
making  olive  oil  would  find  a ready  sale  in  the  South 
of  France  and  Italy,  providing  that  it  was  not  of 
too  complicated  or  expensive  a character. — Journal 
of  the  Society  of  Arts. 
