The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1897-06-17

OLIVE P
Southeast coast had at least one notable |
olive plantation ON Durgeness Island, coast of |
Georgia.
The manufacture of the oil is an interest |
ing process, and one with which our recently |
large Italian and Levantine population is |
familiar, although our American growers |
NAV be expected to introduce Improvements |
of sweeping nature We have penchant |
for improved machinery. The foreign Gus
tom is to wait until the olive is mellow and
has dropped from the tree before converting |
it into oil.
The Caifornians have discovered by ex-
perimental tests that the fruit produces
more oil and of superior quality when it is
made as soon as the olives are ripe
They gather the fruit from the trees as
early as possible, and do not allow it to hang
on the boughs after it is ripe. Like the
sugar-cane the fruit loses its properties by
keeping after it is ready for the manufacture.
The oil manufactured late in the season is
regarded by the Californians as inferior. De-
lays also subject the fruit to waste and the
cultiyator to loss. The best months for
picking the fruit are November and Decem-
Der. Like tobacco, the olives are damaged
by frosts; and when frozen yield poor
product. The olives approaching the mel
low state make the best oil, but less Of it.
The ripe fruit produces excellent oil, and in
greater proportions. The fruit when ripe
has violet tint, and sometimes a black
shade. The tree has a tender bark, and the
fruit delicate skin. Sticks are not used in
gathering, as blows injure the bark of the
boughs and break the skin of the fruit.
Poles are therefore only applied to limbs of
great hight. The fruit is picked by hand.
That SO gathered is in better condition. and
produces a finer character of oil than those
broken and injured by poles.
! When the fruit is ready to be gathered,
heavy cloth is spread under the tree and the
olives are rubbed off their stems and shaken
| from the taller boughs.
| The hooks used to shake the limbs have
crooks at the ends like long walking-canes,
and remind one of the rosin scrapers among
the Carolina pines. The gathering Is done In
| dry weather and on clear days. If the fruit
| is picked on moist days it has to be dried by
the sun before it is crushed. After 1T is col
| lected on the cloths the fruit is emptied into
vessels and taken to the factory. When gath
cred on cloths, the olives do not bruise and
are not soiled and damaged with dirt from
the ground. When in any way stained
with soil or covered with dust it is washed
| in water and dried. AS it is a soft fruit it
will not keep in heaps, for the mashed ones
sour; they are preserved spread out on trays
| in thin layers.
The injured fruit is always picked out,
| and the olives are assorted according to
quality, and make different grades OF Oil.
| The sooner the olives are converted into oil
after they reach the mill the better.
The process of oil manufacture is simple.
The oil is found in the pulp of the fruit;
the pulp must therefore be mashed. 1t 1t
could be crushed without breaking the seed
the oil would be improved, but no ma
chimes of sufficient capacity for this purpose
have yet been introduced. Science will
doubtless soon provide for this want. The
crushers in use for MASKING the fruit with
out breaking the seed produce two grades OF
oil, the first being the finest.
The crushers in general use are of different
pattern and mechanism. Some are worked
by hand. others by horse power, and some
by steam. They are made of large circular
stones. which revolve on axles or pivots in
holes in perpendicular beams in large hol-
low stone bowl or concave vessel. Some of
the crushers have one stone, some have two,
and others have three and four. The stones
are the size of grain-mill rocks
The machinery turns the stones around
within the circular bowls, and the olives are
crushed underneath the massive disks
Afterward the pulp is removed to the press.
These are also of various character and size,
according to the extent of oil manufactured.
Some producers use hand presses, others
horse power, and still others steam.
} The hand presses do not extract all
the oil, and the pulp is pressed twice.
After the olives are pressed twice by hand
A. nf
able oil, and are therefore most desir-
able and efficient. The process of pressing
the oil from the fruit is slow aud requires
time. The pulp is reduced by the presses
into paste and passed into tubs. 1t is then
, placed in "paste bags" These are made of
!. porous material, to allow the oil to escape.
The paste bags containing the pressed pulp
,, are placed under oil presses and subjected
to great pressure. The flowing oil escaping
from the presses is caught in tubs. From
these it is removed to stone vessels and al
} lowed to settle The vessels are wide and
shallow.
; After some days the dregs in the oil fall
to the bottom. The oil 10 then dipped out
into receiving jars. It is next subjected to
filtration. The filters are lrrge wooden
boxes, covered within and without with tin,
and with bottoms of perforated tin. Over
$ the bottoms layer of cotton is placed. Re
3 ceiving vessels, encased with tin, are put un-
der the filters The oil il then poured
from the earthen vessels into the filters; il
passes through them into the vessels beneath
The cotton is kept cleansed by being washed
| with chemical solutions. Cleanliness con-
stitutes the chief precaution in manufacture
4 ing fine oil. All the vessels, boxes, filters,
and presses are kept scrupulously clean, its
l., grade maintained ard the price advanced
= Other forms Of filtration are used by some
. oil producers. Vessels with perforated bot.
toms covered with alternate layers of sand
! and pulverixed charcoal to the depth of two
. feet form good filters.
a Other filters have dried moss instead Of
4 cotton, and some have sand, charcoal, and
! chalk spread In sucOoesivo strataa This com,