FS : 
374 QUEENSLAND AGRICUITURAL JOURNAL. [1 Ocr., 1899. 
article would be £24 per acre in the early years of bearing, while the value of the 
olive, when cultivated, increases as a matter of certainty with each additional 
year of age until maturity. Taking the produce, in the early years of bearing, 
at one-fourth of that named, with the knowledge of what to expect as, year by 
year, the trees grow older, we can still afford to wait. The oil cake, of course, 
also has its value, and, although in Australia we do not as yet stall-feed our 
cattle, there is, at least, our old friend the pig quite prepared to convert the 
olive-oil cake into bacon, hams, and lard. ; 
OLIVE-TREES IN QUKENSLAND. 
The olive has fruited well on the coast lands near Brisbane, and gives good 
promise on the Darling Downs. Of the plantation formed by the late Dr. 
Ricci, on Westbrook, Mr. Davidson, the then manager of the station, wrote to 
Mr. Bernays as follows :-—“These trees, now six years planted (1883), have 
grown exceedingly well, in height rather than thickness, some of them being 
quite 10 feet high. ‘This I consider a great growth, when it is allowed that the 
trees have had to pass through four most severe seasons of drought and one of ~ 
the worst winters for frost ever remembered here, receiving during all this bad 
time no artificial watering or help. Some of the trees fruited last year (1882), 
and a few this. The fruit appears to be of first-class quality, being well fleshed 
and of good size. I have no doubt, if these trees get a good season or two, they 
will thrive and bear splendidly. I am of opinion that the tree will do far better 
if grown on a chocolate than on the heavy black soil.” 
; Mr. Thomas Petrie, in 1883, wrote to Mr. Bernays about some olive-trees 
which he had planted at North Pine in 1873. In ten years they were 20 feet 
high and 18 feet across. 
Mr. A. Petrie says that these olive-trees have now been planted about 30 
years. They have never been cultivated or looked after in any way since first 
planted. Last season a quantity of the fruit was pickled and turned out very 
well. ‘There are two or three different kinds, but the names have not been 
preserved. Some of the trees are about 20 feet high, whilst others resemble 
well-grown orange-trees more than anything else. They do not bear very 
regularly. In some years there is scarcely any fruit. 
With reference to the irregular bearing of Mr. Petrie’s trees, it should be 
borne in mind that all fruit is borne on two-year-old wood, and new shoots are 
therefore necessary to regular bearing. ‘lhe nomenclature having been lost, 
it may assist the grower to know that the largest olives are the Picholine, 
having 77 to the pound; the Sevillano, only 36°2; Polymorpha, 71°9; Macro- 
carpa, 72°8; Asiolana, 60°6; and Amygdalina, 76°9. Although much smaller, 
the Mission Olive, with 111-6 to the pound, is well suited for pickling, and, as it 
also produces oil of good quality which keeps well, this combination of qualities 
recommends it to growers. The Mission has 22°51 per cent. of oil in flesh, and 
only ‘61 in the pitt. It is therefore not tainted with the flavour of “ pitt 
ol.” ‘The Manzanillo has 106:6 olives to the pound, 19:73 per cent. of oil in 
the flesh, and only ‘55 in the pitt. The N patil Blanco is the fruit to suffer 
from frost. It contains two-thirds more oil than in France, and is twice as 
large in California—i57°3 make a pound. It has 22°92 per cent. of oil in the 
flesh and ‘99 in the pitt. Pendulina needs 157:1 to the pound, and gives 21°36 
per cent. of oil in the flesh and -99 per cent. in the pitt. Rubra wants 196-1 to 
the pound, gives 22°01 per cent. of oil in the flesh, and *75 in the pitt. 
The above figures are from “ Olives,” by F. T. Bioletti, of the University 
of California. : 
At the Penal Establishment at St. Helena, in Moreton Bay, there is a fine 
grove on the hillside of 71 olive-trees, in addition to 19 large trees near the 
dairy, and two of larger size in the garden of the superintendent’s house. All 
these were planted many years ago by Mr. Hamilton, who was the first super- 
intendent of the establishment. They amply demonstrate the suitableness of 
the soil and climate of the island to the cultivation of the olive, the soil being. 
a rich, red, voleanic bed of great depth. It produces enormous crops of general 
farm produce, especially of sweet potatoes, lucerne, sorghum, and garden stuff. 
