The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1898-10-26
OUR GREAT OLIVE CROP.
GOVERNOR BUDD RECEIVES A
REMARKABLE REPORT.
3. M. Le1ong Shows Startling
Facts About Olive Oil and
Injurious limitations,

There are many interesting Facts
concerning olive culture in the report
just filed with the Governor by 3. M.
Lelong for the State Board OF Horu-
culture. Some portions of the report
go into questions concerning the his
tory of olive culture in general. as
well as in California, but the most in
teresting facts deal with the product
and it's outlook in California.
1.-THE culture of olives for CONNER
cial purposes" runs the report, forms
an industry that with proper protec-
ton should be regarded as one OF the
safest in California, and under 1aVor-
able conditions the most profitable OF
ell branches of horticulture.
Few people know the extent of olive
culture in California to-day. To those
interested, the following data Will sup
ply valuable information:
According to the reports Of Asses
sors to the State Board Of Equaliza-
ton for 1897" says Mr.. Lelong, which
are conceded to be too low, there are In
California 1,162, 739 olive trees, Of
which 364,610 are given as bearing
and 797, 500 as not yet in bearing. Az
eraging the plant at thirty feet apart,
we have 1900 acres in bearing and
1868 acres not yet in bearing, or a
total of "a, 223 acres devoted to the
culture Of the olive in the State. We
could with safety perhaps add at least
10 per cent and would be nearer the
mark"
Continuing along the line Of interest
ing figures, the report shows that Cali
fornia olive growers could supply the
United States with pure olive oil, if
the people would discard the adultera-
lions and learn the value of the genu-
inc product. The following are inter
esting figures:
"Olive trees reach full bearing at
fifteen years, and presuming that they
bear fifty pounds of olives per tree
(Which is not too high, but low, con-
servative estimate), and that Of the
total in bearing there are 5000 acres
that will give this average, or IA, 400
600 pounds Again, averaging the
product of the remaining 1900 acres,
which are in bearing, but have not yet
reached the fifteen-year mark, at fifty
pounds per tree, we have ll,O4OOOO
pounds Of fruit, which added to the
former figures gives US a total OF 20
100000 pounds Of olives as the product
of the State. Now, on the average 1t
takes sixty pounds of fruit to make
one gallon Of olive oil, therefore, we
should now produce $4,000 gallons of
olive oil per year, if all the fruit was
turned into oil, which Of course would
increase from year to year as the trees
grow older. When the acreage now
given as not yet in bearing becomes
in full bearing, averaging the output
on the same basis as the above, or say
5000 acres in full bearing, at 1OO
pounds per tree, we would have 2S.-
10000 pounds Of fruit, and the re-
naming 10,623 at fifty pounds per
tree would give q, 400, 200 pounds of
fruit, or a grand total of 5O,930, 200
pounds of olives per year; and if all
were made into oil we would have
S4S, 900 gallons Of olive oil as the
product of the State. Again, assuming
that one-half of this output Is turned
into what is commonly styled pick
les" a misnomer for cured fruit, av-
eraged at six pounds per gallon, we
would have 4, PA, 900 gallons Of cured
olives, and 424, 400 gallons of olive oil
as the product Of the State.
From letters received from growers
throughout the State this estimate,
both as to number of trees and pro-
duction, is considered very conserva-
tive. Well, let us suppose it is. Would
20 per cent addition be nearer cor
rect? II so, we would produce sos, 352
gallons Of olive oil and 5,O93, $50
gallons Of olives; or, if the entire out
put was made into oil, LOIS, 704 gallons
from 26645 acres"
Mr.. Lelong sees that so large a
product will be cheapened for lack of a
market, so he says:
Thus the grave question that will
confront the growers in the near future
will be the disposition of this immense
output, and how to profitably market
future productions. I have been warned
as to the impression such a statement
would make upon the minds Of many,
and especially in real estate circles.
and considering the gravity Of the sit
uation, I believe the time has arrived
when the growers should consider the
subject from all standpoints and give
the same their most serious and care
full consideration.
"Of late much has been said about
there being no future for olive OIL at
least until a law is passed requiring
cotton seed and other admixtures to be
branded as such, similar to the law
regulating the sale Of oleomargarine.
While adulterated oils greatly hamper
the sale OF the pure product, I do not
believe they are wholly responsible for
the comparatively small consumption
of pure olive oil. This fault lies with
the people in general, and is due to
their apparent ignorance or indiffer-
ence as TO the great medicinal virtues
of pure olive OIL evidently forgetting
that food which is given to the body
to sustain and prolong life should be
pure and harmless and beyond the pos
sibility Of pollution.
1.-The manufacture Of olive OIL is
somewhat of a misnomer. Olive oil
is found, not made. There is no pro-
cess of fermenting, racking, etc., as in
the manufacture of wine from grapes.
No chemical changes take place. The
oil is already formed in the fruit; all
that is required is proper mechanical
means for its extraction. 1t exists in
the numerous small cells which COM
pose the olive, and to get it it is but
necessary to break these small cells by
mechanical means and express the oil