Arizona republican., 1891-07-31
OLIVE OIL.
10 Is Claimed by soroe Not to Be An
 PrO0t.


 PrOnt.
 An editorial in the San Francisco Re.
 port recently has much food for thought
 for those who are planting the olive
 in small or any other way for profit.
 There is no doubt of there being money
 in the production of olive oil, if one can
 sell the oil at from $12 to s24 a gallon,
 as some have done. There is money in
 1t at $4 a gallon. But can this be done?
 Those who have had the most expert
 ence in California say it cannot.
 As absolutely pure oil as is made in
 California-and it is very nearly as per
 feet as that made anywhere-when
 placed on the table with spurious oil
 m which there was supposed to be scarcely drop of genuine olive oil and
 both samples without labels, the spuri- ous oil has been pronounced the best
 This does not prove that olive oil is not choice, nutritious food and a valuable medicine, nor does it prove that the spurious oil IS wholesome It may or may not be; it is not olive oil, though it may taste good, and may not be delete rious. It is simply fraud, as very many of our foods are.
 The same is true of wines. The French, and, no doubt, the English and Americans, can make up decoction without one drop of the juice of the grape in it, and of the vilest of trash, and about nine-tenths of the people would prefer it by taste to any of our best domestic wines, made from pure grapes. These are facts, and we are forced to meet them. It is true that | there are laws now in force in most ] states almost as stringent as could be | made against the sale of fraudulent | olive oils; so strict are they on the man | who sells them as to probably defeat | the object that they were enacted to ac- complish. There is hardly grocer but !. would have sunk a fortune in fines since such laws came into force if the laws had been rigidly executed The whole sale grOcers of large cities are in the business for the money there is in it, and not for fun, nor to help build up the olive industries of this coast. wrote of the olive oil fairly and honestly a month or two ago for the good of the whole people and many criticised my views. l said that we have thousands of acres of land and the climate suited to the olive. But let us find out first, before we invest money in its culture, whether or not olive culture has any thing in it we can get out to profit. There are plenty of pioneers making the venture already. They have money to experiment with. Let the people wait and see whether they are successful. Everybody who has the land and money to spare should by all means ' plant few olives, s5 as to help along i the valuable work Of experiment. The ii results of such au experiment will be f closely watched. "He following is the editorial referred tc. "The committee appointed at Thurs ,, days meeting of the olive oil producers II in this city has devised a plan which I should benefit both producers and con- { and aid in the development of | what ought to be an important state in T dustry At present there is great fear f that hOrtiCulturiSts, and especially new :, settlers in California, will be misled as to the profits in the business and lay out their orchards in olive trees, to the total ? exclusion of other and more marketable ( fruit. The production of olive oil should I yield large profits, but, with one or two 4 in which cases the growers are wealthy enough to push their brands, o he industry does not pay. Several ex- oerienced producers have attempted and ,ailed, and the official record of the d board proves what profit ess industry it is as a general thing. W Could the product of the orchards be s disposed of, the profits would be very II arge. But growers cannot induce F wholesale or retail grocers and other lealers to take their oil The trades nen prefer to sell counterfeit oil, the u main ingredients of which are hogs U ard and cOttonseed oil. Such stuff can g 1e sold for much less than the true oil, if md to the greater profit of the seller. That is why California oil producers lave to-day unstable crops on their lands. The organization which has 2l 'een formed proposes to educate the q public up to the advantages of olive oil - IS food and medicine, realizing that if V consumers once taste the genuine article hey will never afterward use the coun- erfeit, whatever its price may be. With his object the association will probably al stablish city depot for the sampling nd advertising of reliable brands, much fter the style of the state viticultural D. B. WIER a