The herald., 1897-10-04
!: THE OLIVE UNDER IRRIGATION ;
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1t is commonly supposed that because
the olive will grow and bear withou
irrigation it needs none. But the orange
and the lemon Will do almost the samt
thing. They will stand a drouth tha
in the east would kill most Of the nativ,
forest trees and as long as they are
young will bear pretty fair fruit will
no water during the dry months Many
man has by this been deceived into be-
lieving that his particular soil needed
no irrigation. The cry of mo irrigation
required" which has misled so many
and which kept the county of San Diego
ten years behind in the race for pros
perity, came from the same fact, in con-
nection with the further discovery that
the grape, apricot, peach and some Other
trees would do fairly we'll without irri-
cation where the rainfall was about
twenty inches and the climate not toe
hot or dry and the soil retentive OF
moisture.
But no one who mas seen the olive
treated for the best results can doubt
that the profits will be at least doubled
on almost any soil by irrigation. III
one of the old orange orchards in High
land once saw two olive trees that had
been planted among the oranges Nte
first year to fill a vacancy. For fourteen
years they had been irrigated, fertii-
ized and cultivated the same as the res,
of the orchard. The difference between
them and the trees in an ordinary orch
ard without irrigation was astounding
one was in the off year, but it had or
greater weight of fruit than any tree ]
mad ever seen. The olives were more
ike prunes, yet there was no lack Of
oil in them or of flavor when picked
The other tree was in the year of full
bearing, with every branch and twig
hanging down like those of the weeping
willow. The orange trees were laden
with the finest fruit, yet it was doubtful
if the ground would not have paid as
much had it all been in olive trees Of
the same kind. If those two were any
sample of what the whole field would
90, as they probably were, then one year
If such an orchard would be worth three
IF any that have ever seen raised with
out irrigation. For there is sure to be
an off year, which on irrigated ground
s less likely to be very bad. In the
year there is too often an excess
# fruit which cannot be shaken off ami
cannot be profitably thinned out BY
)cking. 1t is almost impossible for the
rec to carry all of this 10 first grade ana
he attempt to do it is certain to reduce
n size the amount the tree could hava
,arried had it not been overloaded. The
irrigated tree will come nearer carry
ng its whole crop TO perfection. Thos5
lives that fal. will be second grade o.
'ery near It, But on the unirrisated
rec those that are below first grade run
'apidly out into almost worthless
GRADES, almost worthless even for oil
because of the cost Of picking as com
Jared with the flesh on them, the pil
icing often about all there is of them.
If the fruit is to be sold by the ton. th>
weight of that on the irrigated trees will
,e two or three times that of the fruit or
he dry trees. And If they are sold by
he ton on the trees the difference to the
ye Of the buyer may be worth several
ollars ton. The difference in the pick
ng is alone worth something, as it takes
he same work to pick an olive the size
t dried cherry as to pick one the size
f a plum.
This difference is very marked, even
where the irrigation is quite defective.
n fact. the olive does not need any such
irrigation as the orange or lemon anC
he two trees at Highland would un-
oubtedly have done well enough with
alf the water they had. l have seen
hem irrigated in various ways and lived
n places where some olive trees had
title drbble of water a few times year
rom a windmill, while others of the
ame age and treated alike in other re-
pects--that is, totally eglected-had
o water, but were under rainfall
bout the same as that of Los Angeles
nd in a soil very retentive of moisture.
he difference in every case has been
reat enough to prove that olives are
luch the same as peaches. You can
aise them without irrigation in most
easons and raise very good ones and
aise a profitable crop of them. But
fhatever you can do without water you
an so far surpass with it that it is in
IL cases simply a question of the cost
the water.
But the olive eXcels the peach in being
till marketable as we'll as valuable for
il when under size. Small fruit of other
inds is generally unstable, no matter
hat it's flavor. But the flavor and the
ercentage of oil in the oil olive is little,
at ALL impaired by being small. The
,ss will be almost entirely in the gross
eight of the crop and in the picking.
[ence methods of irrigation that would
e too crude or too feeble for good work
18th deciduous trees may be profitable
18th the olive. AS long as the water is
OF so used as to coax the roots to the
urface where they will be killed off by
long period of neglect, it will be quite
if1icult to make a mistake with the ir
igation of the olive unless it be given
90 much water.
Irrigation also tells heavily on the
rowth of the tree when young. Though
4 the dry ground the tree appears well,
,ater will bring it in nearly half the
me to the point of paying. have seen
n orchard of ten acres in the fourth
ear from the cutting (not the fourth
ear from the nursery) in which scarcely
tree had on less than two gallons, while
lore than half had five or six All the
rees, too, were bright and green, though
My seven miles from the coast They
ad grown so fast that the scale could
OF injure them. Their vitality had been
30 much for it. Unirrigated olive trees
n the same soil and rainbelt would not
ield the same amount until the seventh
ear and would not do it then unless the
ainfall were above the aYerage for the