Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-10-22
OLIVE CULTURE FOR TEXAS.

We are going to build q great city at the
mouth Of the BrazoS-uo doubt about that
but we want to start in Alright so as to make
every edge cut for permanency as we go
along. Needing your suggestion to the eff
feet that the surroundings of city ought
to be kept in pace with that city, so far as
relates to progress, we are planning 10
work that way here from the very start,
and with such an object in view we are
casting about for fruits, ETC., with which
we may make permanent plantations. Your
talks on hardy oranges and pecanS have
been laid away for reference in the near
future. We know we can have the pecan
groves to entire success, and from what
you say we think we can be equally as sue
cessful with the orange groves. The or
ange succeeds very well here, even in its
tender varieties, but of cours4 there is
some risk of having those tender varieties
damaged more or less by an unusually Sc
we're blizzard. Such thing might not hap
pen in thirty years, but so long as there ex
lists possibility of its happening. one can
not feel altogether safe, you know. But
with a variety only little more hardy than
the ordinary tender varieties, there could
| be no risk whatever.
have never yet seen anything in THE
| GAZETTE with reference to olive culture.
| The olive is a profitable thing to grow, and
| if / am not mistaken it is growth consid
erably harder than the ordinary orange.
| Do you think the olive could be made to
succeed in Texasl If so, please tell US
| something about the olive and its culture.
| '.Going down to Velasco to recline in the
shade of her olive groves and enjoy her
| heaith-giving breeZes direct from the sea-"
| How would that sound! Well, we are in
for anything good. We would as willingly
have Velasco styled the ''olive city, as any
| thing else. GULF COAST.
Velasco, Tex.
t. ii y, w. 1;,
prove splendid success all along our Texas
| coast, but it is strictly coast tree. and
therefore could not be depended upon for
the far interior, particularly on high lands.
They have not been able to make it much Of
success in California, generally speaking,
owing to the fact that their lands are too
much elevated, as rule. Our coast soils
are perfectly adapted to its soil needs, and
our coast climatic conditions are everything
for it that could be required, therefore one
can see no kind of reason why Velasco has
it not within her easy possibilities to Soon
become a city in the midst of great olive
groves.
There is already one fine olive grove on
the shores CT the gulf-the only one we
know of in this country east of the Rocky
mountains. 1t is at Ocean Springs, Miss,
and is the property of Mr.. A. A. Maginnis
of New Orleans. In a recent mention of it
the New Orleans Picayune says:
The common olive is said to be native of
Asia. In its wild state it is q thOrny shrub
Cultivated it becomes tall tree and lives
to very great age. The olive plantations
at Terni, in Italy, are said to have existed
from the time of Pliny; and some trees in
Turkey are credited with being l2OO years
old. The oil extracted from olives is said
to be almost the cream and butter of Spain
and Italy. II is nutritious and wholesome
food, especially adapted to warm climates.
10 make oil the fruit is allowed to ripen,
when it is crushed to paste and subjected
to pressure.
The unripe olives are picked, eaten at
home and exported from France Spain and
Italy. All Americans are familiar with the |
picked olive as an appetizer. Englishmen
take the picked olives before their meals !
to whet their appetite and at their desert
with wine. Nearly three million acres of
land in Italy are said to be devoted to olive !
culture.
The Picayune then adds that the olive
can be successfully grown along the sea
coast of the Southern United States, and |
that when this undoubted fact becomes
generally known steps will be taken all |
along the line to put US in q way entirely |
destructive to all existing necessity for |
importing our olive oil and our picked OIL
ives. Away back in the Seventeenth CEN
tury Jesuit missionaries introduced the |
olive into Mexico, where it is still growing |
and doing decidedly well. The Picayune |
continues: |
To Mr.. A. A. Maginnis of this city should |
be given the credit of introducing the olive |
to the gulf coast, and showing the posi- |
bilities of that favored land by successfully |
growing olive trees and fruit there.
On his elegant grounds at Ocean Springs,
Miss, Mr.. MaginniS has several acres de-
voted to olive culture. He is an enthusiast
in that line and has some 1400 healthy bear
ing olive trees in his orchard. The other |
day he brought an olive branch to the Plea
yune Office loaded with olives, fit and big
enough to pickle, showing that he can raise
the olives he talks about with so much en-
thusiasm.
The trees Mr. Maginnis has growing
came mostly from roots. or layers, shipped
to him from Italy and California, while
some were propagated from cuttings.
These trees are very beautiful. having a
clean, smooth bark. with dark green leaves
about two inches long and one-half inch
wide, tapering with the under surface a
silvery white, strongly suggestive OF the
silver maple. The trunks of the trees will
meaSure-those in bearing are referred to
from four to eight inches in diameter.
Trees on this place are in all stages of
growth, but those that are in fruit are from
ten to fifteen feet in height with long, thin,
pendant limbs, and are literally loaded with
fine olives. Some of these trees are ap-
parently of different species, that is, to
judge from the shape of the fruit, some be-
ing elongated, whilst others are Of round
shape and very large. They are planted in
rows about fiji. zen feet apart.
We here break in upon the Picayune to
state that Mr.. Maginnis has evidently
made mistake in planting his trees so near
together. The olive grows to quite large
tree with considerable spread of top, and
therefore should have more room-thirty
or thirty-fve feet at least. Other small
growing fruit trees might occupy the space
between the rows, if necessary, while the
olive trees were still young and small Says
our contemporary:
The field in which these olive trees are
growing is as near the salt water as posi-
BILE and just to the rear of the Maginnis
and there the trees We're planted
from five to eleven years ago. Perhaps this
nearness to the water may have something
to do with this wonderful output. The trees
seemingly commence to bear at six or seven
nf af fret ccoptilv fhaD |