Adolphe Flamant

“ But neglect and ignorance are capital sins in most things of this world, especially in arboriculture, and I have seen olive trees, in rich soil, adjoining orange, lemon and laurel trees, none of which had ever been cleaned and which were covered all over with black scale. How can any one expect a product from trees that are in the clutches of death? ”

“ The olive is just as delicate to handle as the orange tree, so that the older it is and the more developed its root system, the more danger it presents in transplantation, when even the most careful precautions will not always secure success.
The small trees, when one year old, will develop with astonishing vigor when planted in their permanent sites; their tap-roots will sink rapidly; they will stand, without suffering, drought and hot weather, and not more than one in every two or three hundred will fail to grow. ”

“ In passing over a long period, during which the praises of the olive tree have been sung in many tongues, we come to that great agriculturist, Parmentier, who during the last century was instrumental in the introduction of the potato into France. He says: "Of all the trees that the industry of men has made profitable, the olive tree deserves, without contradiction, the very first place." ”

“ If, in the cultivation of the olive tree, one were to be guided by the ancient beliefs that have come down to us through the ages, it would appear that when once planted it can be left to take care of itself. ”

“ Has the tree or the nature of the soil changed since so that we may wisely disregard the testimony of the ancients? Is there anything to encourage us now to plant the olive tree on a richer or a different soil from that of its historic and traditional growth? ”

“ Coutance guards us against the unreasonable pruning that seems to be recommended by the proverb "a wise man at its foot, a fool at its head," though he would rather prefer it to a complete abandonment. He simply recommends the suppression of all dead wood, the cutting of the branches that prevent light and air from circulating into the center of the tree, the giving it a regular shape, and the keeping it from growing too high, which would result in the sterility of the lower parts and would render the gathering of the fruit more difficult. ”

“ On an equal acreage, and when from eight to ten years old, the product of an olive grove will be worth several times that of a vineyard; and under the same volume the oil will be ten times more valuable than wine, so that it can be delivered in a more economical manner. While with a four horse team a farmer will deliver about 600 gallons of wine per trip, representing a maximum value of $100, he can, with the same team, deliver olive oil to a value of over $1000. ”

“ But when the olive tree is so robust by nature, so little scrupulous with regard to the choice of soil, enjoys such remarkable longevity, and has no excessive cold weather to fear in California, should it be raised by us from the seed instead of the cutting, when by the first mode we have to wait ten or twelve years for the product, as against four or five years by the second? ”

“ Bertile says that the elasticity and vigor that were found among the Grecians and Romans, were due, undoubtedly, to the use of olive oil, which was so popular among them. While animal fat is injurious to the stomach, and thins the blood, olive oll helps the digestion, enables the body to develop more suppleness, and helps the brain to attain the highest possible stage of human intellect. The salutary effects of olive oil over the human system have never been disputed. ”

“ But the best preventive is, first, to prune carefully, so as to give free access to light and air in all parts of the tree; then to rub energetically the trunk and largest branches with lime-water, or with the whale oil and sulphur preparation, and these enemies will be kept at bay; only a small portion of them, if any, will survive, to become the prey of their own enemies, which nature provides to finish the work of man, that is: of the man who knows how to help himself. ”

“ It can thus be seen that the pickling of the olive is a very simple, very rapid, and very cheap operation. The more so, as the moderate expense of making the lye, of which a small quantity covers great many pounds of olives, can be brought down nearly to nothing by its use, or its sale; as a winter tree wash, for it happens to be the very best preparation that can be used to that effect for ridding fruit trees of the numerous insects that live or deposit their eggs on them. ”

“ It must be first understood that an olive tree so grown has to be grafted, as it would otherwise remain a wild tree, giving thus but a poor and small product. On the other hand it is well known that through the medium of a seed a tree is more vigorous, has a more lasting power, resists better cold weather, and is less delicate on the choice of soil than those grown from cuttings. ”

“ The tree is often affected and even killed in the best oil regions of Europe by excessive cold spells, which are absolutely unknown in our parts of California, so that its culture, which offers great danger there, and keeps it from being more developed, presents an unquestionable safety in Napa Valley and such other sections where there is no danger of such extremes of cold or hot weather, both of which the olive tree fears to an equal degree. ”

“ In California where the black scale has pretty generally appeared and caused great havoc among the orange trees of the southern part of the State, the trees when young should be sprinkled with a whisk broom dipped in a bucket containing a mixture in equal parts of sulphur and whale oil dissolved in hot water; and if any olive grower is ready to act the moment those insects begin to appear here and there on any of his trees, he will easily prevent their spreading to others. ”

“ The gathering of the olive crop, too, is a very easy and cheap work. The berries that have fallen to the ground are first picked, then the tree is shaken and the branches struck with long poles to cause the fall of the remaining fruit. The few of them that may be found a little moulded, by a too long contact with the earth, though good enough to make good oil, are generally set apart to be used only with the last pressures, when the lower grade of oil is made. ”

“ Those with but modest means at their disposal will rather invest in fifty to one hundred acres of hill lands, more or less rocky, if their outlay for the same will not be above that required for the purchase of from ten to twenty acres only of a richer soil, especially if it is fully demonstrated to them that the olive tree will grow well on those steep and stony lands, and that while they are not likely to lose anything in quantity, relatively to a richer soil, they will gain the advantage of a finer quality in the product. ”

“ I will then say in conclusion of this chapter: let us select such varieties of the olive tree as are universally acknowledged to rank among the best, both for pickling and oil-making; let us choose only temperate regions, so that our trees cannot be affected either by too much heat or too severe cold weather; let us plant them on the dry and sunny slopes of our hills where quicker production and finer quality will be obtained ”

“ So far as regards the oil of Spain, and to a certain extent, that of Italy, this judgment holds good to the present time, for the reason that the Spanish olive is a larger and coarser fruit, while the Italian growers are too apt to detract from the limpid delicacy of the virgin oil, by the sacrifice of quality to quantity. It is almost impossible for any one to realize the exquisite delicacy of the first expression of the freshly gathered olive, unless he has sojonrned in such a district as that of which Avignon, France, is the center.. ”

“ Finally, while an olive grove planted with one year old rooted cuttings pays, when five and six years old, quite as much as a vineyard of same age; twice as much when from seven to eight years old, and increases from year to year its annual paying power to $300, $400, $500, per acre, and upwards, until, when about twelve to fifteen years old, the tree reaches its full bearing capacity, on what basis shall we calculate then the cash value of such an orchard? ”

“ We should, however, bear in mind that it has been said time and time over by the best authorities on the subject, and especially by Michaux, that the quality of the fruit of the olive is essentially affected by that of the soil, and that while it succeeds in good loam capable of bearing wheat and vines, in fat lands it yields oil of an inferior flavor and becomes laden with a barren exuberance of leaves and branches. ”

“ During the excessively dry summers which are occasionally seen in part of California, when all the other agricultural productions are affected and diminished in consequence, the olive tree, this king of the dry soils, where it vegetates best, will continue to be loaded with fruit, just as in the seasons most favorable to other cultures. ”

“ In the works of the most reputed modern writers we find full and satisfactory assurance that the kind of soil cited by the ancients is the most favorable to the growth and profitable culture of the olive tree. ”

“ The citizen of California who travels in Italy and the south of France cannot fail to remark the similarity of soil, climate, conformation of ground and general atmospheric conditions to those to which he has been accustomed on the Pacific Coast. ”

“ The best soils, where the fertility of cereals is so great, are not the proper ones for the olive tree, not that it will not grow in them, but because an exaggerated ligneous development will take place at the expense of the richness of its fruits. ”

“ The caution that is thus recommended to us, as regards to the cultivation of the soil around the olive tree, is in a certain measure the natural consequence of the rocky and steep situations where it is most generally found in Europe, and where the plows cannot find easy access. In such places, where plowing is out of the question, two or three hoeings a year, a few feet around the tree, will be found sufficient to ensure its rapid development. ”

“ Elwood Cooper's Treatise on olive culture: Extending from the promontory of Saint Tropez, in France, to Lavonia, in Italy, in the gulf of Genoa, Nice is situated, whose reputation for the best oil has succeeded all other places in the world.
Bernays. The finest kinds of oils have hitherto come from Provence, in France, and Lucca, in Italy; the commoner from the Levant, Mogador, Spain, Portugal and Sicily. The olive tree will thrive and be most prolific in dry, calcareous, schistous, sandy or rocky situations; it will bear sooner and be more prolific than if grown in the rich soil. ”

“ It seems unnecessary to dwell on the great importance of the olive oil for table use. In the culinary point of view, it was of the very first necessity among the ancients, where oil cooking was predominant, and where it entered into all the seasonings most generally employed. ”

“ While the vine cutting will grow luxuriantly with the help of repeated waterings, the olive cutting will suffer when similarly treated, and will certainly die out if its languid appearance, previous to its start being taken as indicating a need of water, it is too much soaked with it. Thus caution should be exercised in the waterings to be given to the young plants raised in nursery, but the ground should be loosened at their base as often as possible. ”

“ There are other insects of a secondary importance which attack the olive tree, but provided one keeps his eyes opened to face the enemy when its vanguard puts in appearance there is but little to be feared. ”

“ It seems thus established that the olive tree grown from the seed—which is the method most generally followed in the regions of Europe where the severe winters experienced occasionally make it desirable to render the tree as hardy as possible—has to be kept about seven years in nursery, and that at its transplantation it will experience a severe check which will be the natural result of meddling with its tap-root, as also of cutting back its top. ”

“ When comparing this simple and cheap work with the care required by a vineyard, which, besides the regular cultivation, pruning, plowing, cross plowing, hoeing, tying, needs expensive stakes, suckering, summer pruning, sulphuring, etc., one can readily perceive the advantages to be found in olive culture. ”

“ There should be no other cultivation except occasionally to remove the grass and loosen the soil. At least twice a year the land should be worked with the hoe for three feet around the tree, which process should, every second year, be preceded by a manuring."
If olive trees are planted in arable lands, then the heavier the soil the oftener it has to be stirred, while on light soils it can be done less frequently. ”

“ Planting as much as possible at a distance of twenty feet—for on such places regular lines could not be made—we have about one hundred trees per acre, leaving out the very few patches where it is utterly impossible to plant even an olive tree. ”

“ It can also be inferred that the varieties of the olive tree so reputed in Provence, and among which the Picholine holds a most honorable place, are those that will grow best on the hills of Napa and regions surrounding, while the Spanish varieties, to which the Mission and Queen belong, will be best adapted to the southern climate, where, however, they will give, as they do in Spain, a common product. ”

“ If such orchards are worth over $1,000 per acre in Europe, where olive trees are liable to be frozen at frequent intervals, why should they not be worth more here on account of the absolute immunity of those trees against such danger? ”

“ The olive tree requires a warm but temperate climate. It dreads equally extreme cold and excessive heat. In the north of Europe its progress is checked by cold weather; in the south and in Africa it is stopped by too much heat.
It does not grow well on low and wet lands, but it succeeds perfectly on mountains as well as on hills, and even amidst rocks, provided there is but little soil ”

“ An olive tree, weaker, raised in dry land, will always develop with more vigor than another one stronger coming from an irrigated soil.
The young plants in nursery, says Du Breuil, should be protected from drought only through the means of hoeings practiced during the summer, and he adds that when taking them from the nurseries they will accommodate themselves Very much better to the burning soils where they will be planted than if they had been subjected to irrigation during their tender youth. ”