The Florida agriculturist. [volume] (DeLand, Fla.) 1878-1911, 1878-10-09


South Australia, and one of its pro.
moters is Mr.. w. r. Boothby, sheriff
of the Province, who has lately Wis.
tied the olive districts of France and
Italy and returns to his home to write
a book upon the subject. We nave
not seen the book, but 1t is highly
spoken of by the Adelaide Observer:
Judging by the description given OF
it's contents it covers much of the
ground set forth in "L'Olivier," and
has the advantage Of being written
in English. i
In France the olive iis cultivated
in no less than II departments, GOV.
ering an extent of 305, 072 acres and
in Italy its growth is general through |
all the Ligurian sea coast, The warn
cites Of the olive in both countries
are too many TOT enumerate. The |
most noticeable difference is perhaps
in the shape of the fruit, OF which
illustrations are given in Mr.. Booth,
by's work. These show the well
known egg shaped olives at the tree
extremity, pear shaped olives, bean
shaped olives and olives in the form
of a heart. Climate, soil and mode
of culture operate upon the character
of the olive and produce these differ
ences. The principal varieties are
the Caillet Olivier, La Blan9uettc,
lie Brun, lie Cayon, the Saurin and
Curnet d'Espagne.
The fine oil Of N,iee is made from
the fruit OF the Caillet, and q manu-
faoturer at Grasse obtained gold
medal at an exhibition in Paris for
oil made from this variety. Of the
methods observed for the propaga-
ton of the trees the best is considered
by competent authorities to be by
sowing the seed. The plan OF plant
ing cuttings, greatly practiced in
parts of Italy, is regarded as being
too uncertain; and, moreover, trees
raised from seed are naturally more
vigorous than those raised from cut
tings. In parts OF France the COM
| monwild olives spring iromseed scat
tered by birds, especially by a species
| OF thrush which is very fond OF the
berries. Another method is by TAX
ing up the trees and dividing the
roots, the portion so obtained being
L-e MS sOzkchets. In this way old
| trees are utilized, and the plan snc-'
ceeds well, but unless tho sozlc1iets are
taken from a tree that has never been
grated they will produce wild varie-
ties. Once planted the olive requires
careful treatment, but it will we'll re-
pay the labor bestowed upon it. In
dry soils it is necessary to pillow fire.
quently, and in parts Of France the
single horse pillow is used tor this pur-
pose, care being taken not to ap-
proach the trees too closely. This,
however, can only be resorted to
when the trees are planted in rows,
and then it is necessary to dig around
the foot of the trees to complete the
work Of imparting freshness to the
soil. CO.,. ,.r,..,
The gathering OF the fruit takes
place at different periods according
to the locality and the variety, the
fruit remaining long time on the
tree in the warmer climates. In the
Var and Alpes Maritimes the gather
ing commences about October, when
the berries fall naturally; and this
continues until the end of January,
when the remainder are knocked off
with rods. This practice is condem.
ned, inasmuch as it INJURIES the young
shoots; but in the case Of large trees
it is impossible to do otherwise. In
Italy they are gathered with ladders
and baskets, and sometimes cloths
are spread under the trees. The
gathering is done by the day or the
task, woman being able to collect
as much as from IS to 90 gallons
when the crop is heavy. In the dis
tricts " here the best kinds of oil are
made the olives arc deposited in lay.
ers III cool dry places. Olives gath.
cred late produce fine white oil, but
it does not keep we'll and is not so
good as that made from berries gath
cred earlier. The pointed kinds pro-
duce less oil than the others, the best
being those that are larger at the
end than at the stem, It is said in
Italy that the pulp should weigh at
least three times as much as the stone,
and the quantity of oil produced by
each olive should not he iesa than