The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-09-01
Olives in Florida.

In casting about for some staple crop
that would be adapted to semi tropical
conditions and yet be able to with
stand an occasional cold snap. our peo-
pie have sometimes asked questions
about the olive, says the Florida Ag-
riculturist., Besides that, great many
Northern people contemplating settle
ment in Florida. inquire if olives sue
coed here, evidently taking it for grant
ed that fruit so often mentioned in
the Bible as a necessity in Palestine
should also flourish here.
Single olives have often been brought
to a fruiting stage in Florida and in
lands Immediately contiguous, from
Dungeness Island to Ocean Springs,
Miss. They have been grown on War
bury Lake in Central Florida, at St.
Augustine, and if we mistake not, at
Pensacola, Biloxi, Mobile and other
points where Spaniards colonized. The
olive has been planted and fruited in
Florida, if at all, on analogy and not
on careful culture, that is, it was
planted from a vague belief in the re-
semblance of this state to Biblical
lands rather than with any closely de-
fined view or expectation of making it
a commercial success.
In California it was planted from
the dDSOEulG nSCGSSily VI
something from which men of the Eng
lish race could make a living; in Flor
ida il was planted out of idle curiosi
ty by men who already had an abund
ance of staples from which they could
procure a generous livelihood. Hence
it has not succeeded in Florida to the
extent that it ought to have done,
not nearly so well as in California, for
with them it was nearly Hobsons
rx,ftL ha
toric curiosity which is associated with
the tremendous tragedy of the Savior.
The 400 or more trees at DungenesS
Island were planted about a century
ago QS01), by Gen. Green of Revolu-
tionary fame. In addition to the reg
ular planted olive grove there are, or
were, several avenues of old olive
trees, many of them with irregular
looking tops. the result of the freezes
of 'S6 and '95. Some of these trees
had trunk diameter of two and one
half to three feet; gnarled and knotty
trees, but still probably good for
another hundred years-perhaps 500
more-if no great blghting misfortune
overtakes them. They are of the va
riety, Montana, one of the standard
oil-producing varieties, and previous
to the freezes the entire grove pro-
duced as high as 1000 barrels of ber-
ries in one season.
The intention of the owners of the
estate. the Carnegies, was to extend
the olive plantation enormously, and
at one time as high as 10000 cuttings
were prepared for planting. But
whether the plan was carried out, we
are not at present aware.
AT Ocean Springs, Miss, a Mr.. A. A
Maginnis had at one time an olive
plantation of 1900 trees which grew to
a bearing age and were perfectly
healthy and loaded with fruit. The
trees were mostly propagated from
roots or layers, shipped to him from
| Italy and California, while some were
grown by himself The trees We're
very beautiful, having a clean, smooth
bark. with dark green leaves about
| two inches long and one and one-half
| inches wide, with the under surface a
| silvery white. The trunks of the bear
| ing trees We're from four to eight feet
| in hight, and their pendant limbs lit
! orally loaded with fruit.
The fruit was evidently of different
| varieties, as some was round and some
was oblong. They grew on stems from
| one-half to one and one-half inches
| long, and sometimes two or even more
| berries to the stem.
| The fields in which these olives grew
| were close to salt water and it was
| thought that this fact had much to do
| with their prolific bearing. This, how
ever, was probably not important as
the presence of lime and potash in
| the soil. the absence of which, we be-
lieve, has been the principle cause of
| the failure of olives to bear in Florida
The rainfall required for olives is
| about thirty-five inches a year--up to
| forty inches will answer-but more
man that makes the fruit insipid and
| worthless. We believe the, moderate
| rainfall in the autumn would suit
! olives in this state, but whether it
would be profitable to grow them in
| competition with cottonseed oil may be
doubtful. AT best they only yield a
return in Asia Minor of $40 to $50 per
| acre.