The herald., 1898-01-02

estimated, for by the consular reports u
is shown that Italy markets each year
| 70,OOO,OOO gallons of oil, while the yield
of Spain is 7S,O00,000 gallons. The value
of the crop of these two countries is
placed at $240, 0O0 From the latest
| and most conservative of official data
| it is estimated that the value to the
United States of yield of olive oil equal
ing in amount the annual yield of Spain,
if sold at prices brought by the French
product, would be $50, 00O,0 900 per annum.
| So far as climate, soil and ability to
manufacture the products are concerned,
there is nothing to prevent this magnif1-
cent result from being attained.
! Nearly all the imported olive oil is
| falsified. Some time ago the department
of agriculture at Washington caused
tests to be made of sixty-six different
brands of the foreign article, every one
of which was labeled pure" Not one
of them was found to be pure, and sew
eral did not contain any olive oil. The
oils of cotton seed, peanut and sunfiower
seed entered largely into their manu-
facture, and the great need Of the indus
try is that, by congressional action, 1t
shall be made prohibitory to sell peanut
or other oils at olive oil prices.
When the nutritious properties OF the
olive are considered, 1t is something to
know that of the 1876 1856 gallons Of oil.
to be precise, made IN Spain each year.
the almost inconceivable quantity of
| go, 000, 900 gallons is consumed at home
by a population that is only one-third
as great as that of the United States.
| AS the domestic production increases
| year by year, however, the demand be-
| comes augmented as people realize the
benefits of the fruit and the oil. The
oil of the olive is the finest obtainable,
both for table and kitchen use, while as
a pickle and food for daily consumption
the olive excels all other plants, espe-
cially when the fruit is allowed to mature
and fill with oil before being preserved.
Indeed, both fruit and oil may be util-
lied in such a variety of ways that to
understand this is to appreciate the old
myth that tells of the rivalry between
Apollo and Minerva as to which should
bestow the most valuable gift upon man.
Apollo's gift was the horse, but 1t was
decided by the gods that Minerva's gift
of the olive was the more precious to the
human race.
| AS in the case of the peach, the olive
| is either clingstone or freestone. The
ripe fruit has deeply colord skin rang
ing from light brown to purple and red
dish or jet black, with or without bloom.
Even when ripe the fruit is decidedly Bit
ter, and for picking is put through a
special process to remove this undesira-
BILE taste. There are, however, a few
varieties of olives known that bear
sweet fruits which, when ripe, may be
eaten fresh from the tree, and when
dried are also very good. The sweet
olive was first introduced in Europe from
China in I'LL, and in Piru Sweet No. 1
and Piru Sweet No. 2 California has two
imported varieties that are valuable adj
ditions to those already established here.
While each year the acreage set to
olives is being added to, and a large num-
4 Der Of additional trees are coming into
bearing, the cry Of the pessimist that
olive culture is being overdone shows no
indication Of being justified when the
prices obtained by the grower is accept
ed as the criterion. Just as an example
of how prices may range, and without
citing any lengthy statistics, it may be
stated that the local firm of James Hill,
Sons & Co., during the present season,
bid $101.50 per ton for a small lot of
olives, and a little later in the season
bought another lot for $35 per ton de-
livered at the depot. The grade of the
olives made the difference in price, and
for good, well-developed fruit there Is
always a ready and rumenerative mar
ket. One grower in Orange county OBJ
tanned twenty tons of olives from eight
acres, which netted him $50 per ton, or
a return of $3.50 per acre for young bear
ing trees.
The quantity of fruit that we'll
grown olive tree from twelve to fifteen
years old will produce in good year is
from 200 to $50 pounds. The results in
the oil product should be eight and half
pounds Of berries to the large bottle Of
oil. Inasmuch as the tree will begin
bearing in the fourth year and will pro-
duce about one bottle to the tree in the
fifth year it will be seen that there IL
every opportunity for intelligent culti-
walton.
At the same time the returns made in
the census year are no guide to the acre
age set out to olives today. In 1894 there
were 400, 900 olive trees sold for planting
from nurseries of Pomona alone, while
the shipments in 1895 amounted to $780,
900 trees.
The olive crop Of the year just ended
has been nearly double of the year pre-
vious, and the demand in the eastern
market for picked ripe olives while
fairly good has not been so large as
might have been desired. The local fac
tory already alluded to, and which has
branches at several points throughout
the southern country, have made ex-
hibits at Kansas City. the Pure Food
show at Chicago and elsewhere, and
some thousands Of small sample bottles
of picked olives were distributed gra-
tuitously. But to some extent such ed
ucation of the eastern public to an APP
probation Of the American olive is rem
dered nugatory by the action of indi-
vidual growers who have not mastered
the intricacies of picking and who
ship spotted or otherwise dam
aged fruit. Such shipments re-
tard the development of the in
dustry. The pack of olives this season
has been about 5000 barrels, not includ-
ing those put up by individual growers
of which no accurate data is obtainable,
and this will do little more than supply
the local demand.