Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-10-23

be saved or put into the pockets of our
producers as soon as we can raise olives
enough to supply the demand, and that
will continue for some time to come"
This don't look much like an olive
grove" said my informant and in truth
it did not, for not tree dotted the plain
for several square miles, and nothing APP
peared but prickly pear, scrub, and tumble
weed, the ground being tunnelled every
where by innumerable gopher and squirrel
holes. But" he added, " come down
four years from now and I'll show you"
Later | returned to the olive question
again, and little investigation and many
talks with olive men showed that in this
direction there is considerable money to be
made. One of the most successful olive
growers is f. Cooper, of Santa Barbara, a
gentlemen who is not only successful, but
magnanimous enough to give all the points
he can to anyone else. The Oldest orchard
on his place is only about twelve years
old. Six years from planting the largest
trees gave him thirty gallons, and now
some of his trees are giving from thirty to
fifty gallons of first-class olive oil; not
tapped as a young man from the wilds of
the East thought, but taken from the nuts.
Trees are planted about thirty feet apart.
This will give about ninety-iye or one
hundred trees to the acre, and assuming
that each tree bears forty gallons of oil,
single acre would produce 1000 gallons.
In the contemplation of this new indus
try, the peculiarities of climate are noticed.
No one would think of raising olives at
Wilmington, n. C. Yet this is about the
latitude of the olive country here. The
warm current that sweeps down the coast
"a Pacific gulf stream, as 1t were-makes
this locality veritable summer land. The
olive requires mean temperature for the
wear of So The winter mean of Los An
geles Cal, is 67.59; of Rome, Italy, COOS
of Sacramento, Cal, 604S; OF Lisbon,
Spain, 81 "a; of San Diego, Cal, 81 40, and
Of Jerusalem, 6206. These comparisons
between the famous olive countries of the
Old World and the future olive localities OF
| this. show that the grower has nothing to
fear from the climate. There is one pecu-
| harity about this country: in few reStau-
rants will you find any of its fruit produc-
| tons In one of the best in Los Angeles
| spoke of the small size of the olives, they
| being about as large as peanuts, and the re-
ply was that the largest and best are culled
out. PomegTauates are decaylng on the
trees vet never saw one on the table and
native wine cannot be purchased by the
glass anywhere except at the wholesale
| houses. In fact, very little of it is used.
that an acre will produce 1900 gallons, one
| half what l have previously referred 10, a
gallon will fill five bottles. for each OF
which the producer can obtain 81. In
| other words the oil is worth s. per gallon
! to the grove-owner. so that an acre at this
rate would realize $4,000. But this is per-
| haps TOO much to expect, as there are as
many drawbacks in olive culture as in any
| thing else The blight comes early and
often, and trees have to be watched with
the greatest care TO save them from insects
of various kinds. Then trees in certain
wears fail to produce for certain reasons.
| In short, it is only by extreme diligence
and labor that the crop is raised anywhere,
and the same is true of oranges and vari-
GUS fruits. But that 1t pays and will pay
no one doubts As TO the capital required
| to 90 into this business, the land is held in
| this country now at what would appear
extIavlgant prices, but this depends upon
! location Land can be bought in many OF
the new settlements in southern California
| for from $50 to 500 per acre; say, twenty
acres at $75, this would be 900 Tor land ;
this would be all that small farmer could
attend to, and perhaps more. Two presses
| will cost $500, filters $50, driver $3.50, mill
$3.50, two tanks 5000, corker, tin boiler, $50,
and building 800. This is the estimate
given by Mr.. Cooper, and amounts to ST.
| 600, and adding the 81 500 for land, gives a
required capital OF s., 100. But the planter
must live five or six years before the trees
can be counted on, and the olive enthusiast
saws: This is his own lookout" In any
event the olive industry is certain far to ex-
coed the orange in this country, and the
experience of the Old World shows that
| there is always a demand. Oranges can
| only be used as food, but the olive is uti-
| lized as food and its oil i'll machinery as
well. A glance at the olive industry in
| Europe will show its possibilities in this
country.
The famous Italian olive localities are
| Calabria, Puglia and Sicily where the olives
are yet termed sardceili, a name suggestive
of their Asatic origin. Abruzzi and the
Riviera are equally noted. The best oil
used for table purposes that is imported
comes from Lucca. Few if any olives in
the nut are shipped from Italy. For some
reason they sre not up to the mark, all the
| fine edible olives coming from Spain. Why
this is so is not known, but perhaps the re-
markable susceptibility of this fruit to
| change of location or temperature explains
| it. Some of the problems that the grower
asks the scientist to solve are as follows ::
Why do the trees grown on the plain
away from the mountains produce the
| most fruit, and why does the mountain
| fruit produce the best oil? "The olive and
cocoanut are alike in one point they both
require vast amount of patience If planted
| from the seed, the former requiring two
wears at least 10 terminate. Experts, how
ever, have found that seeds can be pushed
by macerating them in a composition
and clay The patience necessary
in this operation can be realized
| from the fact that after waiting, say year,
! for forced seed to grow, the young plant
must be kept in a forcing house for two
wears then it goes to the nursery and here
passes from six to twelve years, more or
| less, before it is finally planted in the
orchard that is to be its final resting .place
| During all this time the greatest care is be-
slowed upon the shoots, pruning, grating
and tying down being but q few OF the de-
mands of the exacting plant.
The olive differs from the orange i'll this
respect that other plants may be raised in
the same field. This is generally done in
Europe grain being planted one year and
something else the next, it being found that
the same thing planted year after year is
detrimental. Nearly all the old trees in
Europe were raised from seed, and did not
begin to pay any return to the planter for
| fifty years. In other words, the children
and grandchildren received the benefit, and
as the tree will live for centuries, it is, per-
haps, not SO long to wait.
No better instance of the wonderful dis
coveries in the science of Embarrassing can
be found than this. that by propagation
from cuttings the planter can realize in
California in five years what the old Roman
waited fifty for. There is much discussion
as to the age attained by the European
trees. According to Risso, the tree at Beau
lieu. Italy, is ct least ], 600 years old. This
tree is most impressive sight, being at
four feet from the ground twenty-three feet
in circumference, and is supposed TO have
yielded at least $50 go pounds of olive oil.
In a single year it has yielded 500 pounds.
The gathering time of the groves about
Nice is from November to January, the
blossom appearing in April and varying
with the locality. The fruit is gathered by
cheap labor-men, women and children
and packed in dry apartments or houses
built fcr the purpose. When large guam
tity are picked the pressing is commenced,
various kinds of mills worked by steam
or mules being used. Thepulp that isl pro-
duced is now placed in baskets somewhat
curiously shaped, and submitted 10 consid-
cradle pressure, the oil produced being
termed virgin, and is then Al, and una
dulterated. The pulp remaining is then