The evening times., 1899-09-13
sYRIA's OLIVE OIL PRODUCT.
Consul q. b. Ravndaps Report to the
State Deunrtment

Consul G. d. Ravndaps Report to the
State Department.
The State Department has received from
Consul G. Bic Ravndal. at Beirut, an inter-
esting report on the subject of olive oil In
Syria, in which he says:
Physicians at home have written me
occasionally. enquiring as to the price of
Syrian olive Oil, saying in effect that they
need pure olive oil in their practice and
that such an article is scarcely TO be found
in American drug stores, where adulterat-
ed French and Italian olive oils prevail.
One of these gentlemen informs me that
good olive oil is being successfully used
in place of cod-liver oil forsniedicinal pur-
poses. Another correspondent who deals
in olive oil for the table, repeats the old
story that most of the so-cailed high-grade
olive oil sold in the United States is Sy-
rian, North African, and European olive
oil~mixed with cotton-seed .o3f exported
from the United States to France and Italy.
so far as my consular DISTRICT is con-
cerned the olive-oil industry Isl an impor-
tant and growing one. The natives are
learning by degrees how 70 pEpperly cul-
tivate, harvest, and press the precious fruit.
The American colonists atSHaHa seem TO
have proven that by judiciuns management
the olive tree can be made to& bear fruit
| every year; and that by piekingSthe olives
from the trees, instead of betting them
roughly down with sticks and Sstones-by
which method the trees suffer great dam
age and the fruit gets soiled by care
fully selecting the olives when picked, lay
ing the unclean ones aside and reducing
the heaps to prevent fermentation, and by
the introduction of modern vr:vs vrs::ve presses,
the industry may be made very profitable.
''Of late. some enquiries have beeen made
at this office by commission agents in re-
gard to American olive presses, and cata-
}ognes have been applied for. This is
healthy sign. | have reason to think that
considerable American machinery OF this
kind can be sold in Syria, provided the
present direct steamship connections are
kept up.
There are olive groves all over Syria
and Palestine, but especially along the lit
i toral. Some of the largest ones in my
! district a.e to be found in fhe vicinity Of
l'Nablous in Samaria, In the Aka district,
and near Beirut Tripoli. and Latakia. The
Shwayfat grove Dust outside the city linn
| its of BEIRUT alone produces in an av-
erage crop year about O00 pounds OF
| oil. valued approximately at S1l40o0. In
the Tripoli neighborhood the production OF
olive oil was 1886, ,0000 pounds in 1897, and
/ 70S. 900 pounds in 1898. The Aka district
| produces annually from 100000 to 2,1Oo,-
900 pounds. This gives no idea. however.
of the total output in all OF Syria. Such IN
| formation cannot be obtained.
"A few weeks ago. three barrels OF olive
oil were shipped from here TO Detroit,
Mich. by order of a prominent American
chemist who travelled through Syria last
/ spring. The direct olive-oil expectations
from this port. as shown by the invoices,
have been of little Importance, although
frequent, and especially intended for Sy-
rian consumption in America. The oil is
of but a moderate degree OF excellence.
PERHAPS the most profitable use Ameri-
cans can make of the Syrian product is
| to import In bulk the purest native oil
! which the market affords. subject IL 10 the
I hest modern methods OF purlfcatlon and
Qualification. and finally retain II IN bot
ties A certain amount of olive oil is snip
ped to the United States from Smyrna
am Informed by the United States consul
| at that port in barrels containing some
thing like $50 oke- or 700 pounds, each
At Haifa an American firm manufactures
both soap and table oil, which competes
successfully with the best French oil, and
sells readily in New York TO the extent
of some 200 gallons year. The average
price OF common oil here varies between
l41-2 and 1-2 piastres per oke tla ia to
1914 cents per AS pounds. The frm
sells It's oil at 9S cents per gallon in Haifa
The freight from there 10 New York mas
averaged about IS francs *Si4'isl per toI
gross weight | am told ethat- French
| concern has lately started an. oil mill al
/ Yafa which produces better olive oil thar
the common oil sold here. 1t ships &c
| France. ia
,.;'The United States consumes practicaiiI
all the wool licorice root, and bltumeI
exported from Syria and mosts OF the sy'
rian raw silk (sent via Franee,, besides
some Syrian wine and oiiVe on. see n'
reason why the silk and olive oil shouit
no, he sold and bought direct, as the wool
without the Intervention of French middle
men. Direct dealings would prove equal!
| advantageous TO American manufacturer
and the growers here sia