Olive green

“ The olive is without question the most important tree on this coast; it prevails, and gives its colour to the country everywhere, except in the Montagnes des Maures and the Estérel. This is a most difficult tree for an artist to deal with, as it forms no masses of foliage; the small pointed leaves, dull green above, pale below, are so disposed that the foliage can be represented only by a series of pencil scratches. The trunk has a tendency to split into three or four parts in the ground. The vitality of the olive is remarkable. ”

“ The only thing that I can remember against the landscape is the prevalence of olive orchards. I hailed as a relief the stubble-fields immeasurably spread at times, and I did not always resent the roadside planting of some sort of tall hedges which now and then hid the olives. But olive orchards may vary their monotony by the spectacle of peasants on ladders gathering their fruit into wide-mouthed sacks, and occasionally their ranks of symmetrical green may be broken by the yellow and red of poplars and pomegranates around the pleasant farmsteads. ”

“ When young they are somewhat glutinous, whence the specific name, becoming later a dark olive green. As with other plants growing near water it keeps its leaves longer than do trees in drier situations, and the glossy green foliage lasting after other trees have put on the red or brown of autumn renders it valuable for landscape effect. ”

“ The wild olive is a small tree or bush of rather straggling growth, with thorny branches and opposite oblong pointed leaves, dark greyish-green above and, in the young state, hoary beneath with whitish scales; the small white flowers, with four-cleft calyx and corolla, two stamens and bifid stigma, are borne on the last year’s wood, in racemes springing from the axils of the leaves; the drupaceous fruit is small in the wild plant, and the fleshy pericarp, which gives the cultivated olive its economic value, is hard and comparatively thin. ”

“ The blossom of the olive groves was succeeded by tiny green olives which swelled in the heat until they were ready to yield their rich oil which was so welcome to the people of other lands. Artists worked happily on the plaster walls, laying on their colours to delight the eye, potters kneaded their clay until it was as butter under the ball of the thumb. ”

“ The leaves grow in pairs, lanceolate in shape, of a dull green on the upper, and hoary on the under side. Hence, in countries where the olive is extensively cultivated, the scenery is of a dull character, from this colour of the foliage. The fruit is oval in shape, with a hard strong kernel, and remarkable from the outer fleshy part being that in which much oil is lodged, and not, as is usual, in the seed. It ripens from August to September.
Of the olive-tree two varieties are particularly distinguished: the long-leafed, which is cultivated in the south of France and in Italy ”

“ The olive contains more protein than any of the other common fruits, and with the exception of the alligator pear is the only one containing any appreciable amount of oil. Until within a few years we have been eating this valuable fruit in its unripe state, but now we get it, both imported and home grown, ripe. There is just as much difference between a ripe and green olive as between a ripe and green apple. ”

“ The fruit is mild, or sharp, or bitter; and the oils differ likewise; so that a pure olive-oil may be unfit for purposes of food, and only fit for greasing machinery and making soap. The green, unripe olives, having had the bitter taste extracted with salt, are preserved in vinegar with spices. The ripe olives are gathered in the fall, when they are as large as common plums. They are of dark-green color, and the pit, now become a hard stone, contains a savory kernel. The flesh is spongy, and its little cells are filled with the mild oil, which runs out at the least pressure. ”

“ It is, indeed, often necessary, and sometimes desirable, to lay one colour and form boldly over another: thus, [Pg 342] in laying leaves on blue sky, it is impossible always in large pictures, or when pressed for time, to fill in the blue through the interstices of the leaves; and the great Venetians constantly lay their blue ground first, and then, having let it dry, strike the golden brown over it in the form of the leaf, leaving the under blue to shine through the gold, and subdue it to the olive green they want. ”

“ The residents of the olive districts both in Greece, Spain, and in California often prefer the olive preserved after it has ripened, the oil having then matured and the flavor being finer. Among the export trade there is much prejudice against it owing to its dull, black color. Olives should be of good color, crisp and firm, but never tough. ”

“ After one has eaten ripe olives for a time, the green ones will have a harsh, rank taste to him. It is also much easier to acquire a taste for the ripe olive. The large, luscious ones with meat as thick as that of a good sized plum are truly delightful. ”

“ Under these conditions it grows to a very large size. The wood is of a dark color. The limbs are long, smooth and curved, but the fruit twigs are apt to shrivel and die after the berries have prematurely fallen. This is apt to occur with the fruit of this tree as the berries are of such very large size and consequently heavy, and so are easily detached. For this reason it is a favorite olive for pickling as then the berries are picked green. The pruning should be limited to frequent trimming and to keeping the tree free from dead twigs and broken branches. ”

“ The season following, sow under the trees to moderate the flow of the sap, stay the growth of wood, and cause the blossom to set. In an indifferent soil this would be hurtful, as there is never an excess of vegetation. However, in similar conditions, in place of sowing an exhausting cereal, they sow vegetables, beans, lupins or peas. Green crops, as manure, are often dug in, and thus the olive during summer, finds sufficient subsistence to help it to bring a crop to maturity. ”

“ Pour one cupful of olive-oil into a small pitcher from which it will drop easily. When the egg and seasoning are thoroughly mixed, begin to add the oil, using a silver teaspoon, and rubbing rather than stirring. Add the oil until a clear spot is formed upon the egg, then mix until smooth. Only a few drops can be added at first, but the quantity may be gradually increased. The clear spot upon the egg is an infallible test of the right quantity of oil. If too much oil is added, the dressing will curdle. A few drops of lemon-juice and long beating will usually make it right again. ”

“ Mix with mayonnaise and serve on lettuce leaves. Half, or even a third, of this quantity is sufficient for a small family.
ORANGE SALAD
Thin slices of very sour oranges, sprinkled with cut English walnuts. Serve on lettuce leaves with French dressing made with lemon-juice. Especially good with game.
PIMENTO SALAD
Shredded pimentos, sliced olives, finely cut celery, and a tablespoonful of chopped onion to each pint. Mayonnaise. This salad should be half celery, one fourth pimentos, and one fourth olives. ”

“ To make French dressing, put into a bowl or soup plate a pinch of salt, a dash of red pepper, and three tablespoonfuls of olive-oil. Stir with a silver spoon until thoroughly mixed, then add one tablespoonful of tarragon vinegar, and stir until thick. French dressing must not be made until it is to be used, as it very quickly wilts a vegetable salad. Four or five tablespoonfuls of oil may be used to one of vinegar or lemon-juice if desired, and French dressing may also be seasoned with tabasco sauce, Worcestershire, dry mustard, celery salt, or any preferred condiment. ”

“ In Spain it may be said to be the favorite olive, but in some of the northern provinces where the tree is out of its element it gives no fruit at all but only attains a colossal size and hence is classed by the country people as a wild tree. But as we shall proceed to show it has none of the attributes of the wild tree, so far from it that it is one of the "oil press olives," one of the varieties most highly domesticated and cultivated that the world knows. ”

“ Hence it is plain that instead of being the cheapest mode of dealing with a crop, it is the most expensive as it is one of the direct causes of the olive bearing only every other year.
Each leaf shelters a bud which in time will be a twig or a blossom, if the leaf is knocked off the bud is killed, for its life depends upon the preservation of the leaf, and these leaves are more plentiful on the fruit branches than any other part of the tree. No matter how carefully the fruit be poled off, damage is sure to be done. Olives should be picked by hand from ladders. ”

“ Olives are around her dwelling, for it stands on the nether slopes, where the fir’s fragrance from above scarce reaches; their fine branches and crooked stems rest traced upon the sky, and into their grey tones fig-trees bring brighter green for contrast, though brightest of all are the vines that twine beneath. The blue-grey smoke curls above the green-grey trees, to show where the lace-weaver lives; a rough spring flows freshly out of the earth beside her cottage, with wooden trough to guide its stream into the brick basin, and thence into the beans and potatoes of her garden ”

“ Though every two years is generally considered often enough to thoroughly prune an olive, there is abundant work for the knife each year after the crop is gathered, in taking off the dead, weak, and sickly branches, to the end that the sap may go to fruit, and not be obliged to keep useless wood in life. The tree so treated will be better able to resist frost, will bloom and yield more heavily, and its olives will contain more oil than do those of one that does not receive this care.
The olive is exceedingly subject to a species of dry rot, and unskillful pruning may actually cause it. ”

“ When one eats a hearty breakfast, the noon luncheon should be light and consist mainly of fruit. When breakfast is light, the noon luncheon should be of a more substantial character.
There are few of us, who, if we really give our minds to it, cannot find or make time in which to live rightly, and, by living rightly, we live longer, and gain increased happiness for ourselves and our fellow-men. ”

“ One wonders how these slender fragments of trunk can support that spreading weight above, especially in wind and tempest, and how that wealth of blossom and fruit can draw sufficient sustenance through such narrow and splintered channels; but the olive is tough, and the oil that runs in its veins for blood keeps it ever vigorous. ”

“ The fruit when ripe is, by the careful grower, picked by hand and deposited in cloths or baskets for conveyance to the mill; but in many parts of Spain and Greece, and generally in Asia, the olives are beaten down by poles or by shaking the boughs, or even allowed to drop naturally, often lying on the ground until the convenience of the owner admits of their removal; much of the inferior oil owes its bad quality to the carelessness of the proprietor of the trees. In southern Europe the olive harvest is in the winter months, continuing for several weeks ”

“ The olive was first planted in England in the seventeenth century, but its fruit does not ripen in the open air in northern climates. From early ages the olive-tree has been highly esteemed both for its fruit, and for the valuable oil extracted from it. ”

“ The jewellers who deal in expensive watches will advise winding the watch at exactly the same hour each night. Does not the human body mean as much to the soul that dwells in it as a watch or a furnace? ”

“ Then the people go to the orchards and gather the olives by beating or shaking the trees, very much as they gather the lower grades of apples in the New England States. The best olives are picked out for eating, and only the poorer ones are pressed for oil.
"Ten or twelve gallons of oil are often made from the product of a single tree, and an acre of good olive-trees will give a crop worth a hundred dollars. A good crop is only gathered every other year, and the olive seems to have its 'off season,' like the American apple and peach. ”

“ Belassis, for her hair was like silver, and the small thin face was seamed with tiny wrinkles. Only the skin retained some of its old softness and bloom, and the expression worn by the patient, peaceful face was one of childlike trust and tenderness. Maud often told her aunt Olive that she was ‘the loveliest old lady in the world,’ which, if not strictly true, did not convey an impression altogether wrong, for the little widow was beautiful in many eyes besides those of her niece. ”

“ A humbler relative of the ilex, though it does better things than help broken-nosed emperors to look dignified, is the olive, which covers many of the neighbouring hillsides with its little smoky puffs of foliage. A stroke of composition I never weary of is that long blue stretch of the Campagna which makes a high horizon and rests on this vaporous base of olive-tops. ”

“ Lime, abounding phosphates, magnesia, with an abundance of silicates of alum and mercury, and a sufficiency of potash and soda, are the chemical and physical requisites which this tree will find most advantageous to its development, and cause it to produce abundantly, and, provided other circumstances are equal, give the very best oil. It is seen that the olive will flourish wherever its roots will penetrate easily, and there is no deficiency of lime and alkali, such as a loose soil of rocky clay, or sand of volcanic or granite formation. ”