The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, March 9, 1902, Page 7

Work on a California Olive Ranch, the Largest of Its Kind in the World. ch in the e big things of HE largest olive fan when the olive is one e chief horticultural products f & on the Medi- . fore America That the asses all oth- ers where th e was given its first t n Califorma of t pic Do ear 8 ¥ Iat of t 0 t come | from f promis the sta mak the long, straight rows of ed to the ucre, stretching e f % in November and end el rah, On this ranch the predominate, and the " few weeks HEO were ground with, thelr . ! have been relloved em SrUEEINE 1o Fe b i pe that dellghte the eye lile, however, can " the ald of the pruning cnson the trees must I \ the worse for the p 1 elded; the more 8o be et re usually taken from hes with small rakes. rte of the Btate the trees are " the frult, the quantity £ oil ensing as long as the berry res mains on the tree. When the crop s Jight pleking 18 sometimes deferred on this mecount; hut In favorable seasons like the present, when the crop is geger- ous, picking begins early and continues la For oll of the highest quality the ber- rles are gathered in November or De- cember; but if quantity rather than qual- ity i the object, the picking may be off untll February or March The havesting of the olive San Fernando ranch of the typelal scenes Every day in the of Chinamen are put crop on the has come to be one of California life picking season a horde turned loose in armed with Stunding on ladders branches the big orchard. They bugs and rakes grasp the hang Mcer are boxes, they m which the ber thick and with the strip the sheg of the plump truit, which drops into canvas bags hung across their From the bags the olives are dumped into picking which carted away filled At all times care must be taken not bruise the berr lHable rles ves, shoulders. are as es, an brulwed berrics are to ferment and must be rejected This daily scene on the big 8 ernan do ranch s repeated on a smaller scale n many other parts of Callfornia, for the ve industry has come to have third place In hortioultural importance The climate of certain portions of (he fitate is very similar to that of the coun tries hordering on the Mediterranean, and the ulive flourishes In the counties around Franolseo May, In the valleys of (he Bacramento and Ban Joaquin rivers In the foothille of the Blerras up to a holght of 2000 feet, 'That ollves may come to maturity, they must have a cer tain number of degrees of heat from the blossoming of the tree till the first frost T'he rature during the winter must not go below 14 degrees, and snow must not fall more than four or five times a year, or remain on the ground for longer than iwo or three days at o time. When theke conditions are present, ae they uro In many parts of Californta, the olive will Brow in almost any soll, even amoug stones and rocks, and without irrigation or fertilization. Within reach of a sea breeze the olive thrives with particular vigor. CRUSHER I e L] /4 wvATS b A330 Obviously the ollve growing Is a most desirable industry In this country, for it utllises dry, rocky tracts of land with Beanty soll, in svhich nothing else would thrive, and with little oultlvation and ne fertilising produces an abundant and valuable orop. The aren of land devoted to olive grows ing 18 conetantly on the fnorease In this Btate, groves being found in Alameda, Bunta Clara, Napa and Bonoma counties, and the country around Sacramento, Mission Han Jose, Marysville, Oroville, Auburn, Penryn, Los Gatos, Bunol, Niles and Cloverdale, to say nothing ot Bouths ern California, where a large portion of the soil s well adapted to the olive. The qlive tree, onca thoroughly estab. N\ TN Lo3 Argad Ok LA TS C/AT 0, Tl SUNDAY CALL. i lished, is extremely hardy and will sur- gested that olive trees are like women— vive neglect, poor treatment and unfavors \able conditions. Indeed, it has been sug- the worse they are treated, the better they bshave. Hardly any fros', heat or burning will kil the thelr productiveness, trees ¢’ destroy They have no ene mies, the frult being so bitter that the birds of the alr do not peck at It, and the wandering (ramp leaves it un moleated, Predatory birds and hungry men have no use for the olive, much to the satis faction of its grower and owner. But, hardy and immune from attack as the grown olive s, the young tree requires constderable care and attention for the first three or four years of its life espe- clally when ralsed from suckers, as ls the almost univarsal practice in Callfornla, In Burope it 1s common to grow olive trees from seed, for wseed trees are stronger and better able to withstand sharp [rosts. But In the mild climate of ten or twelve years pean olive bears a due t ~fiw In C ripens in Dec cent ¢ [" oc high a and is mu dillo Blan and produces product is giving and pic Pickled berries br lon, the cost being hardly on But, though pickling easier and quicker method £ getting an fncome from the trees, pressing the ber- ries for cil {s the more profitable. When the berries are intended for this pur- pese they must be thoroughly ripe when picked, for the oil begin to form un does not e ground to lers in such the high qua There are diftering rather in co ciple, as may be see quaint and pri v r still in exist- ence at the home of Ramona In Ventura County and the latest improved machinery of the big Los Ang concern. The pulp is placed in & round mat of about the diameter of a wagon wheel, or in flat circular bags made of sacking. bottom of the press there is a strong wooden gratiug on which rests a flat round iron plate with holes in it. Ome of the pulp bags is put on the plate, on the bag is laid bag, and so on piled top of pressing is gentle and slo 1s called 1 of the highest quality. As it is very readlly con ated by con~ tact with Inferior oll or extraneous matter it is conveyed to angther part of the es- for about a& y comparing th one on felding what virgin tablishment and set aside month, #o that it may slowly deposit its tmpurities. white flter may be used to obtaln or the process may rapidly by passing the oll through cetton Gray or paper the clearest ofl; be performed move batting, The vessels in which the ofl Is placed mudt be scrupulously clean, so as to avold Injury to the delicacy of its faver or the brilliancy of Its appearance After the virgin has heen expressed the pulp I8 put back Into the press, het water belng ed to help the flow of oil. ‘The product of the wecond pressing commands & much lower price In the mar ket. The p s & bieoted to & third pressing, a p and other bags being used, so that the apparatus used for the flnest ofl may not acquire any flavor of old pulp. yields ofl of a low grade, manufacturers of soap The third pressing which 1s seld to or Is used as an ingredient in lluminating and lubrfeating oils, Ofl improves’ with age and may be kept for a long time without deterforation, Even after the pulp has some value; as a feed for cattle, zer for the sofl well mana third and last pressing the it is dried and used as fuel or as fertills Nothing Is wasted on & 1 oltve ranch For 1 the M sion olives are excel . A8 is the Spanish Regs Queen olive. The olive expert prefers ripe olives, which sre of much the same color as a black- heart cherry, for pickling; but the aver- age person has grown so accustomed to eating green olives that dark ones do not sell well. So to suit the t or lack of plel nille and Mis- 1s0 or iste taste of the great publlc, the berries for pickling are gathered in a green before the ofl has begun to form, for any state, @iscoloration renders them unattractive to the eye and less marketable. To pickle them, the berries are placed in wooden ve Is and covered with a strong solution of 1 twelve hours. After being taken out they are put Into fresh water every twelve hours for nine or ten days, to take away the taste of the lye. But as even after long soaking the bitterness remains they are passed twice through strong brine. In the last water wild laurel leaves are often placed, they communicate & pleasant flavor to 'the berries, With Anglo-Saxon the tasts for olives and olive ofl is a cultivated one, but among the Latin races the love of the olive seems natural. In Southern Europe many a peasant makes a meal on a handful of the dried berries, a chunk up of wine, and flads d work on it, too, s about nine million gal- and imports & good deal here they are left for as the of bread and a that he can do France prod lons of olive ofl as well, while BSpain produces about twenty-three milllon gallond and cone sumes mast of it. More olive ofl is im ported into Mexico than into the United States, though America has seven or elght times the population of her sister republic. This fact, however, may in gume measure be accounted for by the enormous growth of the industry g this ccuntry imtbey — EXPENSIVE RIDING. HB most expensive season tlokets in the world, perhaps, are those s T sued by the Congo Rallway Com pany. The first-class single fare for a journey of about 50 miles s §100 Latterly this company has lssusd season tiokets avallable for one sl at the fo lowing rates: For four return journe ’ for elght return Journ 065, and for twelve return journeys, ¥ Nat ally the lasue of tI tiekat ve ) fted, so far only four ha been d ered, but applieation fo fth has baen made. They are not pr written out on & plece of cardboard, f L L by six inches, folded in two; on one # the date and name of holder are inserted and the other ls divided in squares, whers the beginning and end of each journey by filled in by the station masters at the time it is performed.