18 BULLETIN 803, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
sideration Groves H and I, and also probably Fi, none of which is 
normal, it would seem that the fruit which is poorer in oil may be con- 
sidered fully mature by November 15, with a minimum of something 
over 17 per cent of oil 
in the flesh. From 
the data now at hand 
it appears, then, that 
17 per cent of oil in 
the flesh may be taken 
as a tentative mini- 
mum standard for 
maturity in the case 
of Mission olives. 
The development of 
the Manzanillo vari- 
ety is shown in figure 
’ ; S : 7, in which but few 
. . N ’ . groves are represent- 
Fig. 6.—Percentage increase in oil content of fruit flesh 
of Mission olives from various groves in 1916, ed, as this olive is not 
as important as the 
Mission. The fruit in Grove B appeared subnormal, since it was prac- 
tically too small to pickle. Compared to the Manzanillos described in 
Table 2, it seems not unlikely that these crops of 1915 and 1916 may 
have been unusually low in oil. Analyses in the literature,t however, 
show that the oil in 
the flesh of this vari- 
ety averages 2 or 3 
per cent less than in 
the Mission. From 
the diagram in fig- 
ure 7 it appears that 
15 per cent of oil in 
the flesh may be 
taken as a tentative 
minimum standard 
for maturity. 
Of the Sevillano ~ : : = 
and Ascolano olives ‘ N ‘ . q . 
represented in figures 
19. it b : d Fic. 7.—Percentage increase in oil content in fruit flesh 
S anc ,lbmay ve sal of Manzanillo olives taken from yarious groves in 1916. 
that these are newer 
varieties, and constitute but a very small percentage of the crop. Few 
analyses are available on them. Since they become extremely soft 
when fully mature, they must be picked when in a comparatively 
1Rept. of Work of Agr. Exp. Sta., Univ. Calif., 1898-1901, pp. 263-307. 
