OLIVE CULTURE IN CALIFORNIA

" An olNe ordiard i* a gold nine on the tnoe of Uw earth."— /teHaiK Proveti.

It is only within comparatively recent yeais that the tme value of the olive in California has come to be appreciated. Trees planted a century ago had long anf- ered neglect. The beauty and profit of olive culture had not yet been demonstrated to the new colonists. Then came achange. Capitol awoke to the fact that in this cli- mate conld be raised a frnit superior in size and flavor to the Italian importations. Care of the grand old trees, many of them a century old and still bearing, began to take the place of neglect ; new olive plantations sprang np ; the indnstry assumed a definite business aspect ; until to-day the growth of the olive on the Pacific slope is of enough importance to canse the European produc- ers grave apprehension.

Italy produces annually seventy million gallons of olive oil ; the market value of this oil in Italy is not less than one hun- dred and twenty million dollars, and that means more money than the value of all the wheat exports of the United States in 1883, and twice the value of the wheat ex- ports of 1888.

The demand for pure olive oil is increas- ing, and the consumption of the California product will become greater when the American people are educated to the foct that every bottle of alleged olive oil im- ported to this country is adulterated fi-om forty-five to ninety-five per ct.

Pore olive oil and ripe olives pickled are most wholesome and palatable articles of fix>d. Those whose chief experience of the olive is the large imported berry, pickled green and fit only to be used as a condi- ment, know little of the value of the ripe olive as food, nutritious as meat and always delicious. Often the Spanish and

ItalUQ peasants make a regular meal of a handful of dried olives and a piece of bread, and an excellent meal it is. For medicinal purposes pore olive oil is now fonnd super- ior to cod-liver oil, being at the same time palatable and free from subsequent nausea- ting effects. To quote an eminent physi- cian : "It reconstructs the tissues under- going waste, and by its nutritious, food-like properties sustains without unnatural stim- ulation and repairs without disturbance to the vital forces."

Five hundred olive trees were planted at San Fernando Mission in California abont the year 1800. There are now left four hundred and fifty. In 1881 the trees were severely pruned, the branches being entire- ly lopped off and made into firewood. They commenced bearing again the second year after being pruned, and the crop grad- naly increased, so that it now amounts to upwards of eighteen tons annnally. Ac- cording to tradition, gigantic olive trees yet seen around Tivoli were already old when Romulus traced with a plow the wall of Rome. The old olives, untouched by vandal invaders, respected by the hurri- canes of centuries, are there, covering near- ly an acre of ground each, vigorous and productive as in the days of Christ.

The average life of the tree, however, is believed to be two hundred and fifty years — ^which is long enough. Production in- creases until the age of forty or fifty years. It remains then abont the same frpm year to year, if properly managed, with a per- ceptible improvement in the oil. — G^M-ge Eakins in Forest Leaves.

Plant Hubbard Squash, as it is equal to sweet potatoes and of a finer flavor than common squash for pies. It is not as common in the pastern Markets as it should be.

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P DUKHOBOR WOMEN AND CHILDREN AT HALIFAX. FKBRUARV 17, 1899.

GATHKRING S

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