372 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Ocr., 1899. 
gather carefully the quantity required without bruising (of the largest kind), 
and place them in a clean vessel (not iron) pure from any greasy matter, and, 
when the lye is cooled down to 150 degrees Fah., pour sufficient on the 
olives to well cover them; soak for about 30 hours. ‘Then pour off the lye 
entirely and rinse the berries with fresh cold water, and for three days keep 
them in cold water, changing it two or three times each day. Then, having 
prepared the pickle (salt and water) of about the strength that will float an egg 
(the better plan is to boil the water and pour it on the salt, leaving it till quite 
cold), and, having clean bottles thoroughly dried, put in the berries, shaking, but 
not pressing them down, and pour in sufficient pickle to cover the olives, leaving 
a space of about 1 inch from the cork, which should be good and tight-fitting. 
Coyer with pieces of bladder well tied on and secured from the air by some wax 
of black resin and beeswax. 
OLIVE OIL. 
The principal use of the olive is the production of the olive oils of commerce 
The finer qualities are most in requisition for food purposes. ‘There is another 
very important use to which to put olive oil. In the manufacture of cloth from 
4. to 5 gallons of oil are used in the conversion of every bale of wool. 
Soft soap is made of olive oil and potash ; Castile soap of this oil and soda 
The Mare, or oil cake, is valuable as feed for cattle. Other products of the 
olive are “Oleine” or “Elaine,” “Stearine,” “Palmitine,” and ‘ Margarine,” 
each capable of separation by chemical process, and having their respective uses 
in the arts and manufactures, 
The plant required in the manufacture of olive oil consists of a mill for 
crushing, a press for separating the oil from the solid portions of the fruit, 
receivers into which the oil is run from the press, and the necessary vessels for 
storage and for the market. In the large majority of cases, the machinery 
employed is of the rudest kind, the same form having been handed down from 
generation to generation. A very small capital is required for oil-making, and 
the implements are so simple that, with the exception of the millstones, any 
intelligent rough carpenter could make them. The stones must be of hard, 
unabsorbent material, such as granite. The reason for this is obvious, for it 
can readily be seen that, were the stones of a porous character, they would soon 
become saturated with oil, which, becoming rancid, would taint all that came in ~ 
contact with it. Screw-presses are also used, but the pressure is sometimes 
obtained by means of a lever or, more rarely still, by hydraulic power. The 
bags used for enclosing the crushed olives, before putting into the press, are 
made of coarse linen, horsehair, open felt, rushes or grass, and when filled are 
laid one over the other in the press to the number of sometimes a dozen. In 
the extraction of the oil, there are two distinct processes, viz.:—(1) Crushing; 
(2) Pressing. : 
In the first process the fruit is by some completely crushed, and by others 
the pericarp (the fleshy covering) only is first crushed ; and when the oil from 
that part of the fruit has been separately expressed, the more complete crushing 
is applied for obtaining the remainder of the oil. 
The crushing process should be conducted by a slow and regular movement, 
without jerking, i order that all the oil cellules shall be broken, and the press 
not be called upon to do any of the work which is supposed to have been 
previously done by the mill. ; 
The pulp or paste is then shovelled into the bags, which are placed one on 
the other in the press. Here also the power should be applied steadily, slowly, 
and regularly to afford time for the oil as it exudes to escape from the press 
through the proper channels. 
What is known generally as “virgin” oil is that which spontaneously 
separates or is obtained by the first pressing before the application of water or 
heat to the pulp. This is run into water, where it is allowed time to deposit its 
mucilage, and after being skimmed off is kept separate for the finer uses, 
