Cornell University Library SB 367.U5 Olive culture in the Aipes Maritimes.Rep 3 1924 003 396 235 New York State College of Agriculture At Cornell University Ithaca, N. Y. Library OI_A.L CONSULAR REPORTS. OLIVE CULTURE IN THE ALPES MAEITIMES. EEPOKT FROM CONSUL BRADLEY, OV NICE, IN ANSWER TO A CIRCULAR FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE. ISSUED FROM THE BUREAU OF STATISTICS, DEPARTJIENT OF STATE. AIL SEaUESTS FOR THESE KEPOKTS SHOtTLD BE ADDBESSED TO THE SECKETAKY OF STATE, WASHINGTON : GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICB. 1891. The original of tiiis bool< is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924003396235 SI*EOI^L CONSULAR REPORTS. OLIVE CULTURE IN THE ALPES MARITIMES. REPORT FROM CONSUL BRADLEY, OF NICE, IN ANSWER TO A CIRCULAR FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE. ISSUED FROM THE BURE/VU OF STATISTICS, DEPARTMENT OF STATE. ALL BEQXJESTS FOE THESE KEFOKTS SHOULD BE ADDBESSED TO THE SECKETAEY OF STATE. WASHINGTON : GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 1891. CJ.i}>L^/L4 OLIVE CULTURE IN THE ALPES MARITIMES. BEPOBT BT CONSVL BBADLEY, OF NICE. INTKODUCTOEY REMARKS.* I have the honor to send herewith my report on olives. The Alpes Maritimes produces more of them than any department of France with one exception, and probably now gives more scientific attention to their culture than any. It is decidedly the most important agricultural indus- try of my district. Since receiving the questions from the Department of State I have received letters from California, Texas, and Florida in regard to them. For these reasons, and as I am somewhat familiar with the language, I felt it necessary to look into the subject with some care personally, and give something of the researches made by scientists of late years particularly of M. Peragallo on the insects more or less harmful to the tree and fruit; of M. Gos on manures and pruning; and Mr. Brulle on adulteration. There is a great deal of adulteration of the olive oil, and Mr. Brull6 finds it hard to gain recognition for his discoveries. *Thls valuable report was received too late for insertion in " Fr nit Culture in Foreign Countries." 335 IMPORTANCE OF THE OLIVE TREE. Importance of the tree. — ^Mr. Gos, in his interesting little brochure on the regeneration of olive culture, says regarding the importance of the tree to the agricultural community : It is poBsible in this mild climate and near the sea to obtain in good soil from other plants that can be raised to perfection net products -vrorth more than can be realized from the same extent of land planted in olives ; bnt given identical condi- tions of soil nothing gives equal results. The soil it occupies would be without the olive left barren. It encroaches upon the territory of no other plant, and to dig it np is generally a bad speculation. The olive prospers and yields its oil, so highly esteemed, in calcareous, gravelly, dry, or arid soils iu the narrow valleys of the "Alpes Maritimes,'' on slopes precipitous and water washed, which could not be used for the culture of annuals. It is, besides, a forest tree of the highest order, and its disappearance from our region would be a veritable calamity. The olive covers about 70,000 acres iu the department of " Alpes Maritimes," it yields a revenue of $2,000,000, and is the only income of many families. VAKIRTIBS. There seems to be but two species of olive trees in the south of France: First. The Oleaster (wild olive), having a kind of thorn, very short leaves, and producing only a few small berries, which neither the Dacus nor the boring caterpillar will attack. Second. The Sativa (cultivated olive), leaves lanceolate, fruit large, often attacked by the dacus. Seedlings of the sativa sometimes dete- riorate so as not to be distinguished from the oleaster. Varieties are as numerous as those of peaches or other fruits in the United States. From fifty to a hundred have been described and named iu much the same arbitrary manner, with this perplexing differ- ence, that the names are given in five or six different languages or dia- lects. Mr. Barbe, sr., in his " Etudes sur les Oliviers," describes four varie- ties, as follows : The Blanquetier, which grows large, branchy, with light green foliage; the fruit is small, the pulp has at first a bitter taste, then a mellow after taste ; the oil is abundant ; it blossoms freely, but too often disappoints the hopes of the farmer for fruit. The Blavier, which has a very rustic appearance, is very hardy ; its fruit is oblong and comparatively large ; the pulp is coarse, the oil deeply colored ; the fruit is sensitive to cold. 337 338 OLIVE CULTUEE IN THE ALPES MAEITIMES. The Arabanier or Araban is less rustic and less lofty than the last; its foliage is poor, the fruit round; the oil is of ordinary quality, bet e ^ when made from fruit not quite ripe. This tree is hardier than either the Blavier or the Blanquetier, and resists better the effects of wind and frost. Tbe Cailletier, well known and popular for years past, grows tall ; its branches hang low, the. leaves are glossy dark green on the upper sur- face, nearly white underneath; the bark is rough and of a gray hue ; the tree appears less green than the other varieties because of the disposi- tion of the branches ; the fruit, in clusters at the ends of the branches, is of good size, convex on one side, concave on the other; yields oil which is of superior quality in all points. This tree, also known by the char- acteristic name of Pendoline, thrives best in dry lauds; at its best, its fruit sells for a third more than others for mixing with poorer qualities. It is a robust tree and can be severely pruned. Its greatest enemy is the Dacus olese or Keiron. Cattle, too, if pastured in the grove, must be kept from its low-hanging branches. Other good varieties for oil are the Nirvana, also called Noustrales and Brocienne; the Auriola, also called Pignola ; the Mcoise, the Blanche, the Boberon, the Negrette, the Sager, the caillan, etc. For preserving the Verdale, a large oval fruit, the Amenlean, the Lucques, a small variety with sharp pointed stone. The Poncinere, grown everywhere in the " Alpes Maritimes," the Oalliache, too, and the Picholine are well liked. "WOEKING AN OLIVE ORCHARD. With the olive, however, as with our fruit trees, the best named do little if left to themselves ; care and cultivation seem of even more importance than the name of the variety, although it is certainly ad- vantageous to get young trees from groves which have made some varieties celebrated. I would suggest for the commencement of a grove the Cailletier and Nirvana, or Noustrales for oil, and the Verdale and Lucques for preserving. Propagation.— The olive is propagated readily by any of the methods in use among our fruit orchards. A Mcois farmer who wishes a new grove generally transplants wild young trees, planted by the birds in the woods, and when they are well started grafts upon them the desired variety. The wild stocks give hardier trees. For a long time it was thought almost impossible to cause an olive stone to sprout- but the fact that seeds, having passed the digestive organs of birds' sprouted readily enough, taught that only a thorough washing, to re- move the oily substance which protects the stone from moisture was necessary to produce the desired result; some, however, plant only the kernel. Cuttings from root or branch, well soaked for a day b&. • OLTVE CULTURE IN THE ALPES MAEITIMES. 339 fore being planted at a depth of 5 or 6 inches and afterwards watered, do well. Planting. — Trees in an orchard should be at least 45 or 50 feet apart. Cultivation.— It pays to work the ground lightly around the olive trees several times a year, not deep enough to break the rootlets, which are wide-spreading, but enough to let the moisture penetrate readily and destroy the weeds. Manuring. — The question of manure is one of utmost importance, and for the double reason that elements taken from the soil by successive crops must be restored to prevent utter exhaustion of the soil and con- sequent deterioration of the crop and fruit, and that we may give strong appropriate food to the tree to increase the amount and value of the fruit. To accomplish all these ends analyses of soil, wood of the tree, leaves, and fruit at different seasons of the year must be made to find out what elements are needed. Here the authorities only diifer as to amounts and frequency of application, some trying to produce a crop every year, others a crop every 2 or 3 years. Mr. Peragallo says, every 2 years in winter, before the rains, give each tree either 450 pounds of barnyard manure or 6J pounds of guano ; in odd years give them either fresh earth, soot, or plaster taken from old buildings. Mr. Barbe says : Nothing comes amiss, from weeds, plowed under, to woolen rags, the latter preferred to almost anything, sometimes mixed with horn and old leather; this only needs renewing once in 6 years. To avoid generation of too great heat the rags, horn, or leather should not be buried deep nor close to the tree trunk. Mr. Brull6, of the Nice Agronomic Station, has carried out a very complete series of experiments which space forbids translating in full. He says : Onrfinal decision was that sulphate of ammonia and woolen rags were the best ma- nures. The first increased the crop and frnit, the second produced a strong, healthy- growth of wood and leaves necessary to the welfare of- the trees. Forcing young trees with sulphate of ammonia must be done with care, for they can not produce wood enough to keep up the proper balance between the crop and growth of the tree. He gives, finally, as a formula for young trees : Kiloa. Woolen rags 4 Chlorate of potash - 0.350 Sulphate of iron 0.350 This amount to each tree. For older trees in full bearing, the quantity for each tree as follows : Kiloa. Woolen rags 3 Sulphate of ammonia 0.500 Chlorate of potash '. 0.350 Sulphate of iron 0.350 In the two formulae the sulphate of iron and ammonia should be put on in the spring, the rest in autumn. 340 OLIVE CULTURE IN THE ALPES MARITIMES. The lectures that Mr. Gos, professor of agriculture at Nice, tleliyers to the farmers throughout this department on this.subject are so full of interest that I give large extracts as follows : " Hardy as it is, the olive tree is not an exception in the vegetable kingdon). It demands for the best results an abundant and appropri- ate nourishment, and its harvest is given in proportion to the amount of manure used; if the soil, as is often the case, is not provided with the elements which are indispensable to its welfare, the olive tree de- cays and its fruitfulness is checked. It is not to be denied that many groves live on exhausted lands, and it is often the case of those which formerly produced largely. Nothing is more logical and natural ; it is not possible to obtain crops from a soil for an indefinite length of time without ever restoring some of its elements taken each year with the crop. The farmer who does not give back these elements, or, in other words, does not' manure, robs his land, the consequence being unpro- ductiveness and a gradual reduction in quantity and quality of the crop. _ However, restitution to be equitable can not be left to chance. There are sundry kinds of manures, and the nature and quality of elements taken from the soil by an olive crop must be known. The chemical analysis without giving strictly accurate results affords useful indica- tions. Mr. de Grrasparin appears to be the first who was interested in this question, but his analyses are not complete. After him Mr. Audoy- nard, the erudite master of the agricultural school of Montpelier, pub- lished on the olive tree an excellent pamphlet giving very definite in- formation as to the needs of the tree. He writes as follows : "Plants, not excepting the olive tree, contain mineral principles which are found again more or less modified in their ashes after their combus. tion. The composition of these ashes does not show, it is true, the nature of the mineral compounds which are useful to the plant ; but for some of them, such as potash and phosphoric acid, it can give useful indications. This induced me a few years ago to study the ashes of the wood, leaves, and fruit of the olive tree. My analyses were directed at first to young stalks from 2 to 5 years old, with their leaves. They came from several varieties of olive trees in the environs of Nice. Collected in May, 1870, they were not burned to ashes until December. They had been left 7 months in my laboratory, the temperature of which varying from 15° to 25° and from 25° to 10° C, and had become very dry, the leaves breaking in the fingers. It is in that state that they were burned. The description of the results ob- tained is as follows : OLIVE CULTURE IN THE ALPES MARITIMES. 4s/ies of young stalks and haves. 341 Varieties of olive trees. Weight of the stalks. Weight of the ashes. Ashes per 100 of stalks. Weight of the leaves. Weight of tliO aslies. Allies pir 100 ol leaves. Wild 217 135 91 1'26 150 i.i 2.5 3.3 3.1 2.70 3.26 2.74 2.04 2 68 114 81 104 82 i ■'*. 2 4'" 5 4.5 6 80 Golomban (a) 4 56 Ordinary (6) Sala Total 718 10.3 430 22.7 Average for 100 of stalks Ashes. 3. 60 Average for 100 of leaves ... 5.17 I afterwards analyzed tlie two varieties, a and c, and found the chemical substances as indicated in the following description : Mineral suhstauces found in 1 gramme of ashes of — Description. Stivlks. Leaves. a 6 a b Carhonicacid (CO') 0.195 0.019 0.135 0.225 0.148 0.033 0.147 0.180 0.280 0,080 0.154 0.324 0.222 Phosphoric acid (PhO^) 0. 037 Potash (KO) 0. 145 Lime (CO) 0.258 Those olive trees came from a calcareous soil and still their ashes do not show a large proportion of lime ; the quantities of potash and phos- phoric acid are below those generally found in the vine branches. In taking the averages of the preceding numbers it is found that 100 parts of — Dry stalks — Contain in phosphoric acid 0. 10 Contain in potash 0.35 Contain in lime 0.50 Dry leaves — Contain in phosphoric acid 0.29 Contain in potash 0.74 Contain in lime : 1-45 MINEKAL COMPOSITION OF THE PUUIT OF THK OLIVE TREE. It also seemed to me useful to find the principal mineral substances contained in the olive. I at first- proceeded to the burning to ashes, which presents some difficulties. At the first exposurejto fire the olives flame and are speedily covered with a white crust which stops the com- bustion ; as this crust is soluble in water, a washing dissolves it. After two or three washings a perfect incineration is obtained, and this last product, with the residue of washing, composes the ashes. In following tin's method I got the following results for four samples of olives, three coming from a calcareous and one from a siliceous soil. I designate the 342 OLIVE CULTURE IN THE ALPES MA.RITIMES. three first samples by the three letters, a, b, c, and the fourth one by d ; the sample c came from wild olives. The weight of the ashes of 1 kilogramme of olives is as follows : For a 20.77 grammes olives coming from Grasse ;-for 1), 17.28 grammes olives coming from Biot ; for c, 11.82 grammes olives coming from Biot; for d, 13.73 grammes olives coming from Biot. I looked for the phosphoric acid, potash, lime, and magnesia contained in the ashes ; the proportions found were: Mineral substances contained in 1 gramme of olive ashes. Description. Carbonic acid (CO') .... Phosphoric acid (Ph.O*) Potash (IvO) Lime (0,0 Magnesia (m. G. o) Gramme. 0.14(1 0.072 0.242 Traces. C Very 5 little. Gramme. 0.158 0.064 0.240 Traces. Very little. GrainTne. 0.100 0.188 Traces. Very ? little. 5 Gramme, 0.128 0.070 0.159 Traces. 0.004 There is then very little magnesia and lime: this, even for the olives grown in calcareous soil, appears to have stopped in the leaves, and not to have gone as far as the fruit. On the other hand, the olives coming from a calcarous soil contain more potash than those grown in siliceous soil ; therefore it would be supposable that there is a kind of relation between the acids united to the lime in the leaves and the potash of the fruit; besides the potash appears to have a strong influence on the abundance and quality of the fruit. I asked myself whether that potash belonged more to the stone than to the fruit: Thirty-seven olives {a) kept uninjured for 4 years gave 20 grammes of pulp and as much of stone; the pulp gave 0.596 gramme of ashes containing 0.185 gramme of potash, and the stones 0.482 gramme of ashes containing 0.138 gramme of potash. The pulp thus contains a very large proportion of potash, and this fact appears to me to have a certain importance ; in any case it is rather singular to find at the same time with an oily substance the alkali which apart could saponify it. If we take in 1 gramme of ashes an average of 0.070 gramme of phosphoric acid and 0.200 gramme of potash, we find that in 1 kilogramme of olives there is an average of 18 gramme- of ashes containing 1.3 grammes of phosphoric acid and 3.6 grammes of potash. CONSUMPTION OF THE OLITE TREE IN NITROGEN, PHOSPHORIC ACID, AND POTASH. A hectare of sloping or rolling land may contain 200 middle-sized olive trees, but only 125 on level ground. To calculate the yield an average of 150 of good-sized growth may be taken. The hectare giving on an average per year, 4,500 liters of olives, an olive tree will give 30. It is on an olive tree of this annual produce that we are going to estab- OriYE CULTUEE IN THE ALPES MARITIMES. 343 lish our calculations. The weight of a liter of olives being 600 grammes the above olive tree produces 18 kilogrammes of olives. Mr. de Gasparin admits that an olive tree loses yearly in leaves half the weight of the crop, say 9 kilogrammes. Then the wood lost by accident or pruning may be estimated at a minimum of 5 kilogrammes. The mineral composition of the wood must come near that given by the analyses hereabove indicated. As to the leaves analyzed, as they were still attached to the branches, they contain certainly more phos- phoric acid and potash than the fallen leaves. In estimating the loss due to the leaves according to these analyses, a little overstatement will be found ; but in the final result it will not amount to enough to note. The olive tree producing yearly 30 litres of olives will therefore lose — In ashes — Kilos. Kilos. Byitsstalks 0.025.5 =0.125 ' By its leaves 0.059.9 =0.450 Bj its fruits 0.018.18 =0.324 Total 1 0.899 In phosphoric acid — Byitsstalks 0.001.05 =0.005 By its leaves 0.002.99 =0.026 By its fruits 0.001.318 = 0.023 Total 0.054 And in potash — Byitsstalks 0.003.55 =0.018 Byitsleaves 0.007.49 =0.067 By its fruits 0.003.618 = 0.065 Total 0.150 As to nitrogen, according to Mr. de Gasparin, 100 kilogrammes of olives would contain 0.274, leaves 5 per 1,000 ; granting that the wood of the olive tree contains at least 1 per 100 of nitrogen, as the greatest part of other woods do, it will be found for the loss in nitrogen: Kilos. Kilos. By the stalks 0-000.5 =0.050 By the leaves 0.005.9 =0.046 By the fruits 0.002.7418 = 0.049 Total 0.145 Therefore the same calculation for 150 olive trees of same production contained in 1 hectare will give : Kilos. In nitrogen •''■■" Inpotish 22.5 In phosphoric acid ^■'■ It is seen by this discussion that the olive tree presents about the same consumption of necessary fertilizing principles as the vine. A part of its roots are spread out near the surface, the other penetrates 344 OLIVE CULTURE IN THE ALPES MA.RITIMES. deeply wben the subsoil is permeable. Tbe olive tree then spreads out upon a cabe of ground which may be sometimes very large. This explains how it finds, in the substances surrounding it and when left to itself, the conditions of existence for so long a time, how groves of olive trees may exist for thousands of years, and also how by culture, by a rational manuring, it is possible to assure the duration of that valuable tree and the abundance of its crops during a long period of centuries. Knowing now the nature and the quantity of the elements drawn from the soil by the olive tree, it is well to look after their restitution by a good manure^ the cost of which can be estimated from 100 to 120 francs per hectare. In restoring all waste to the soil, tbe crop of the olive tree would not be exhausting it. The elements of oil are especially drawn from the atmosphere and water. What exhausts the soil is the enormous propor- tion of pulp, stones, wood, and leaves gathered with every crop with- out restoring the elements taken with them. When the oil i^ extracted all residuum goes into industry without any thoughts for the soil which has supplied it. The olive husks, after com- plete pressing, feed the furnaces of the mills; the pulp is entirely lost, boughs from pruning are burned on the farms, nothingin short of what has composed the crop of the tree returns to the soil. Agriculturists have for a long time had the custom of manuring almost exclusively with nitrogenous manure. In analyzing the composition and fertilizing value of the residuum of the olive tree, it would seem well to add some manures containing potash and phosphoric acid. The following is the composition of the ashes of dead twigs coming from the pruning: Ashes of twigs of olive tree, per kilogramme, 270 grammes of coarse fragments (coal, earth, etc.). Per kilogramme of fine ashes: Potash, 55.780 grammes ; phosphoric acid, 33.867 grammes. As shown above, Mr, Audoynaud having got per kilogramme of ashes potash 147 grammes, phosphoric acid 33 grammes, it can be concluded from the comparison of the two analyses that the potash disappears pro- gressively in the vegetable organs in proportion as they come near their death. This is now the composition of the residuum after the extraction of oil: Per kilogramme, water 763 grammes; dry substance, 237 grammes. Per kilogramme of dry substance, ashes 29.1 grammes ; nitrogen 22.2 grammes; potash, 0.3 grammes ; phosphoric acid, 1.5 grammes. A-ccording to these analyses the loss represented by not utilizing the ashes of the twigs is rather considerable in potash and phosphoric acid and the residuum is worth nothing except for the nitrogen and for the orgajiic matter capable of modifying advantageously the physical qual- ities of the soil. It must not be forgotten that this residuum contains always water and may conduce to maintain moisture at the foot of the trees. But the ashes of tbe twigs and tbe residuum are not the only losses OLIVE CUIiTUKE IN THE ALPES MAKITIMES. 345 of the olive tree ; the olive husks and the fallen leaves must be reckoned. Besides the soil must have its reserve of principle which can be sup- plied only by special manures as oil cakes, wool rags "; they are manures containing nitrogen used periodically in careful culture. It would be well to add wood ashes not leached, sulphate of potash, and chloride of potassium. Finally to complete the restitution it is well to use either excrements or urine diluted in water, bone powder, or phosphate of lime, being manures with a phosphoric-acid base. In appropriating to the application of such manure a sum of 100 francs per hectare, say 75 centimes per tree of good growth, the rules of good culture are followed, and after a few years the soil is supplied again with all the principles extracted by a long series of crops. Amongst the manures of domestic animals, one of the most active for the culture of olive trees is that from sheep. It is first class manure whsn phosphate is added. Also to be recommended as cheap and eco- nomical manures are : Wool rags, old leather, horsehair, hoofs, bones, and horn scraps. FORMULA OP CHEMICAL MANTJKES. The following are some practical formulaefor the composition of chem- ical manures, to be used for the manure of 1 hectare or of 150 olive trees of good growth : (1) Applicable to a soil poor in nitrogen : Sulphate of ammonia, 150 kilos ; superphosphate of lime at from 30° to 32°, 200 kilos ; triturated sesame oil cakes, 6 to 7 per cent, of nitrogen, 400 kilos; unlcached ashes, 200 kilos ; total, 950 kilos, or, say, from 6 to 7 kilos per tree. (2) Applicable to a soil poor in potash : Nitrate of potash at 95°, 150 kilos ; mineral phosphaite in bone powder, 200 kilos ; triturated sesame oil cakes, 300 kilos ; crude pulverized sulphate of lime, 200 isilos ; total, 850 kilos, or, say, 5 to 6 kilos per tree. (3) Applicable to a soil poor in phosphoric acid : Phosphate of lime at from 30° to 32°, 4 00 kilos ; chloride of potassium, 100 kilos ; triturated sesame cakes, 300 kilos ; soot, 200 kilos ; total, 1,000 kilos, or, say, 6.5 to 7 kilos per tree. These formulae can be altered according to the composition of the soil ; that composition can be known either by analyses iu the labora- tory or by analyzing the soil by the trees themselves ; that is to say, in dividing the plantation in five nearly equal parts — 1, 2, 3, 4, 5— and in manuring No. 1 with a manure without nitrogen. No. 2 with oue with- on* potash, No. 3 with one without phosphoric acid, No. 4 with a com- plete manure, and No. 5 being left to staud as witness of the results. These experiments require, to be useful, to be continued for 5 or 6 years at least, as the atmospheric circumstances have a notable influence on the fruitfulness of the olive ti^e; serious errors might follow if the ex- periments were made during 1 or 2 years only. For this reasou the 346 OLIVE CULTURE IN THE ALPES MAEITIMES. direct analysis iu the laboratory is to be preferred ; it prevents the loss of time. Oircumstances which have influence on the nature of manures. — When plantations are in the vicinity of towns, near railways, or highways there is often an advantage to use town manures as excrements, indus- trial products, or dung coming from stables or cow houses iu manuring frequently and in small quantities. When they are far from populous centers and from railways or high- ways, the preference must be given to wool rags, old leather, horn scraps, horsehair, hoofs, bones, and sheep's manure in manuring abundantly every 4 or 5 years. Commercial chemical manures, as well as olive cakes, which with little weight contain a considerable quantity of useful substances, are also to be recommended when the carriage of the manure is expensive. Manure with undried plants. — In the plantations far from highways, and of dififlcult access, the culture around the trees of plants of prompt growth, as broad beans, white lupinus, vetches. Madia sativa, etc., is useful ; they are buried undried. They are not very nutritive, but as they take from the atmosphere the greatest part of their nourishment, they do not exhaust the soil of its mineral principles, and, therefore, return more than they take. Their physical inHuence is considerable ; they disintegrate the ground and give to it more permeability ; buried during the spring, they maintain, at the foot of the tree during the strong heats, a moisture much more advantageous than the waterings. Composts. — It is not to be forgotten that the spontaneous vegetation of matay untilled lauds may abundantly supply plants which, after having been previously crushed by the feet of horses, can be put in water-tight pits, mixed with mold, straw fragments, leaves, lime, ashes, any part of dung or excrements produced on the farm, and give after fermentation, a compost of a real value, worth much more than its cost price. Time of manuring. — Manure of a slow decomposition, as wool rags old leather, horn scraps, horsehair, hoofs, old rubbish, cow-house dung, and composts are advantageously spread in autumn. They receive then the rains of the winter, which facilitate their disintegration check their fermentation, and render easier assimilation by the roots. The more these manures are disintegrated more is their action beneficial. As to the very soluble manures, as excrements, dried night soil, poultry excrement, guano, and all commercial manures generally which contain much organic nitrogen, it is better to apply them in winter time. Finally, the sulphate of ammonia, chloride of potassium, and espe- cially nitrates, manures very soluble in water, are to be spread in prefer- ence during the first days of spring. Mode of spreading manures — Whatever their nature, manures must be buried over the whole extent of ground occupied by the roots. It OLIVE CULTURE IN THE ALPES MARITIMES, 347 is known ttat the roots spread all the farther from the foot of the tree as the soil is poorer and less deep. Theory as well as practice require, then, the spreading of the manures on a circle, the diameter of which equals the length of the longest horizontal branch of the tree. The depth to be covered depends upon the nature of the manure. Commercial nitrogpnized substances and chemical manures must be much divided, mixed previously with earth, and not deeply covered. As to composts, wool rags, not decomposed manures, a circular ditch is dug about the tree, 30 or 40 centimeters deep, at a distance from its foot varying with the horizontal length of its branches ; in this the ma- nure is placed in layers 5 centimeters thick and covered with the earth taken from the ditch. It is indispensable not to spread the wool rags in too thick layer, for if the spring was too dry a fermentation might supervene which would raise the temperature of the soil and injure the roots. Time for manuring. — In considering a biennial crop, which is recom- mended for the advantage of the agriculturists, the manuring must take place in the course of the winter which precedes the year of production and directly after the pruning ; the tree, cleared from its suckers and dead wood, receiving fully air and light, copiously manured, is put in a good condition for producing new wood which will be loaded with fruits the following year. HARVESTING THE CROP. The olive tree flowers every year, and there are those who advocate an attempt to gain a yearly crop ; but the majority are content to try to get a good crop every two years. The trees bud in May and flower in June. Olives to be preserved green are picked in September, those destined for oil from November until the following May ; but the best results, to crop and tree, seem to follow harvesting near midwinter when the olive is black, though oil made from olives gathered as late as February and March is preferred for its keeping properties. The main reasons for early harvest seem to be that the insects have less chance to propagate, and that new shoots, which are to bear the fruit of the following year, have not started, and are thus safe from injury during harvest. The farmers in this neighborhood, many of them, spread sheets under the trees and knock the fruit down with poles, iujuring fruit and tree in so doing. It is a bad plan, made necessary by neglect of ptoper pruning. The harvest is gathered largely by Italian women who come into France for that purpose; they are paid by the quantity gathered, boarding themselves. 348 OLIVE CULTUKE IN THE ALPES MA.EITIMES. OIL MANUFACTURE. Oil mills.— The olives being gathered, the farmer here either takes them to the mill at once if he sells to the miller by weight, or spreads them ia the sim or granary to dry out some of the moisture if they are simply to be ground by weight for his own benefit. The olive seems to lose no oil until the humidity is taken out ; but water hot or cold, or still better, oil, must be added to olives too dry, to cause their oil to flow. The mill in use today to crush the olives differs little from those used for centuries. I visited one near Nice early in ifovember, when the crop was just beginning to arrive (see sketches of the mill) ; the olives were poured into an enormous stone bowl from the center of which rose a large wooden shaft crowned with a large wheel; in the rim of the wheel, poipted downwards and regularly spaced, were strong oak pegs for cogs ; these met similar pegs or cogs in the power wheel, which was turned slowly by an overshot waterwheel ; attached to the up right shaft, forming an acute angle with its lower end, was a large millstone exactly the shape of a large grindstone, the edge bevelled to match the slightly concave bottom of the great bowl ; from the side of the upright shaft, opposite to the great millstone on the end of a short horizontal shaft, was a scraper which fitted the inner side of the bowl. When the mill starts the olives in the bottom of the bowl are crushed by the stone, those forced up the inner sides of the bowl as the great stone revolves, are scraped off and drop back under the stone until the mass is reduced to an oily paste; this paste shoveled out was packed into flattish-round woven-grass bags, which were taken to the presses; these are simply rough heavy frames fitted with large screw presses worked by hand ; the bags are piled up in single piles, like so many cheeses, on the wide oak slab forming the bottom of the frame , the presses are screwed down upon them with a hand bar, exactly as our house-raising tacks are screwed up; the oil drains into tubs placed to receive it, when boiling water is poured over the bags to help the flow, and joins the oil in the tub ; the oil rising to the surface of the water is skimmed off with very large tin skimmers. Mr. Brulle, director of the agronomic station of Mce, has invented a mill which, as it crushes the pulp, extracts the stone and throws it out ; this allows, according to Mr. Brull6 and other authorities, the oil of the palp, the true virgin oil, to be obtained from the press without any mixture of that from the stone or kernel. The people of these warm, olive-raising countries are slow to adopt new ideas, so Mr. Brull6 will have to wait some time before seeing his new labor-saving (to say the least) invention supersede the clumsy, oldfashoined methods which are used now, because the ancestors of the people used the in. Virgin oil— Many people talk about virgin oil, but such a thing can not be found by the ordinary consumer. It requires so much care and OLIVE CULTURE IN THE ALPES MARITIMES. 349 I f;iqa ,_9. 350 OLIVE CULTURE IN THE ALPES MARITIMES. OLIVE CULT UUE IN THE ALPES MA.RITIMES. 851 attention to prepare this oil that it is only to be found iu the house of a farmer who has a mill and prepares this oil for his own use. Olives are taken when only three-quarters ripe ; these afe all selected free from any blemish; they are taken immediately after they are gathered to the mill where they are but slightly crushed, so that the pulp alone comes in contact with the millstone; the seed must not be touched, for though the kernel contains a certain quantity of oil, it is, as connoisseurs know, rather acid and has not as fine a taste as the oil from the pulp. This pulp having been crushed without the addition of water, either hot or cold, is gathered in a heap, the center of which is made hollow in the shape of a funnel. The oil flows by itself from the inner sides into the center of the reservoir, from which it is taken with a large ladle. The oil so prepared is greenish in color, its perfume is exquisite and it can be kept for many years. First quality oil. — For oil of the first quality, called "cannon oil," the olives are placed in the mill without addition of water if the fruit is freshly gathered. The oily paste is placed in bags made of clean es- parto, and submitted to the press. In mills with more modern im- provements hydraulic presses are used. Second-quality oil, — To obtain oil of the second quality, and in order to extract from the pulp all the oil which it contains, they throw the con- tents of the bags into a vat which is full of cold or warm water; the whole is well stirred up, the broken fragments of the seed's fall to the bottom, while the pulp floats , this is gathered and replaced under the press. Some pour boiling water over the bags the first time they are put under the press ; this simplifies the labor, greatly increases the yield, but reduces the quality. After all the usual means of extracting oil from the pulp have been employed, 10 per cent, of oil can still be obtained by using bisulphide of carbon. Oil yield. — The best oil is undoubtedly obtained from olives not fully ripe, for too ripe fruit gives oil which is heavy and without perfume. Kisso says that 100 kilogrammes of sufficiently ripe and sound olives ought, in a good year, to yield 20 kilogrammes of good oil and 4 kilo- grammes of inferior quality, and in bad years only 10 of good oil and 2 of inferior. Olive refuse.— After the oil is extracted the skins and refuse are em- ployed in heating boilers, the muddy substance found at the bottom of the most inferior quality of oil is used as manure, and last of all the broken stones or " grignons" make a very excellent fuel, which has the advantage of not giving off any carbonic-acid gas as charcoal does. Fraud is found in the oil mills, as everywhere else. Should the olives be moldy, which often happens when they have been gathered or kept in bad condition, the bad taste is hidden by adding leaves of wild olive trees to the pulp. Others even go so far as to throw seed oils over the pulp while it is being ground, so as to get a perfect Weudiuf with the ftew oU 352 OLIVE CULTURE IN THE ALPES MARITIMES. Keeping oil. — To keep oil in good condition needs great care and at- tention ; the clear oil ought to be separated from the turbid at once, for the longer the oil remains on the lees the more apt it is to contract a rancid or a bad odor. When ttie oil has been decanted several times, as the needs may be, filtered through dry moss, carded cotton, sand, plaster, charcoal, etc., it must be stored in a place which is sheltered both in summer from the heat, and in winter from the cold. Restoration. — Oil must be kept in vessels, which close tightly, and are made of a substance on which oil has no action; these precautions are indispensable, for the effect of the air on oils is too well known not to be guarded against ; they absorb oxygen very rapidly and soon reach a condition which renders them unfit for food. They can be restored nearly to their original state by warming them with the- addition of alcohol and washing them afterward, but they become much paler in color, without any strong taste or odor. Limewater in equal propor- tions can also be used, or 25 centigrammes of caustic potash per kilo- gramme of oil. The best way to obtain a lighter color in very dark oils is to mix them with oils which are nearly white. Oils when exposed to the cold become congealed ; a gentle heat will restore them to their original state. On the surface of congealed oils is found an essential oil, which is employed on the pivots of watches by watchmakers. Proving the oH.—Kt. BriilM, the director of the agricultural station at Nice, has, during the past 2 years, perfected two methods of proving the purity of olive oil as well as the quantity and kind of oil used in adulteration. The first process is a quantitative analysis of which the following is a translation: PROCESS BY ILLUMINATED NITRIC ACID. The process consists in submitting the suspected oil to the action of nitrous vapors produced by the action of nitric acid upon dry albumen. (The cubic centimeter equals a gramme of distilled water.) Operation.— Take a test tube, put in it 0.1 gramme of albumen pow- dered, 2 cubic centimeters of nitric acid and 10 cubic centimeters of the oil to be tested; heat gently over the alcohol lamp so that acid and oil keep the same temperature. When the acid boils, incline the tube over the flame in such a way that by the ebullition albumen and oil may be thoroughly mixed ; this will be accomplished when a move- ment of particles is apparent facilitating the dissolving of the particles of albumen which give oft" shining vapors as they dissolve. If the oil analyzed is pure olive oil, the color of the mixture is pale yellow with a greenish tinge, while olive oils adulterated with seed oils (even 5 per cent), take a clear yellow color which varies from pale golden yellow to orange, and even to red, according to the oil used in adulterating. OLIVE CULTURE IN THE ALPES MAEITIMES. 353 To get the best results, after having examined the mixture in its heated state, plunge the teat tube into ice water, and in about 2 min- utes examine again. When the contents are congealed the traces of the oxidization of the mixture by the nitrous vapors upon the inner side of the tube are more apparent. The reaction of Mr. BruU^ is very sensitive ; it permits to detect as little as 5 per cent, of cotton-seed oil in the olive oil ; with 5 per cent. of cotton-seed oil the color of the mixture will correspond exactly to 100 parts water, 5 units of Naples yellow, and 5 units of dark chrome. Griven prepared samples of oil with exact amount of adulteration known, it is easy to decide the amount of adulteration in any sample offered with the help of this reaction. As the proportion of adulterating oil increases, the colors become more intense. Fifty per cent, of cotton-seed oil would give a precipitate of a color to correspond with 100 parts water, 5 units Naples yellow, 5 units chrome yellow, and 5 units of vermilion. It is to be noted that when other oils, such as sesamum, are joined with the cotton-seed oil in an adulteration, the fraud is as easily de- tected, but not the amount of cotton-seed oil, as the sesamum oil tends to change the vermilion red to deep orange. The following mixtures of pure olive oil and 10 per cent, of adulter- ating oils gave the following results : Olive oil, pale yellow greenish tinge; olive oil, 10 per cent, cotton, vermilion red; olive oil, 10 per cent, groundnut, golden yellow; olive oil, lOper cent, sesamum, golden yellow, pale; olive oil, 10 per cent, beechnut, dark red ; olive oil, 10 per cent, poppy seed, golden yellow pale ; olive oil, 10 per cent, nut, yellow orange ; olive oil, 10 per cent, cotton and sesamum, dark orange ; olive oil, 10 per cent, cotton and groundnut, golden yellow, bright. The ob- server, by comparison, will i-eadily detect 5 per cent, of adulteration by any of these oils. SECOND PKOCESS. QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS. Process based upon the curious effects produced by nitrate of silver upon oil. Operation. — Treat 10 cubic centimeters of oil with 5 cubic centimeters of nitric acid in a porcelain capsule, heating and shaking thoroughly, at the same time until it foams. Different colors are obtained according to the oil used. We pay no attention to this, but letting the capsule cool, we add 5 cubic centimeters of a solution of nitrate of silver (25 per cent.) with alcohol of 90°. If we continue the beat, then comes a moment, at about 115° 0., where the nitrate of silver is suddenly decomposed and deposits the metallic silver upon the inner sides of the capsule. The heat is con- tinued far enough to cause the first luster to disappear, and on tapping 354 OLIVE CULTURE IN THE ALPES MARITIMES. the capsule lightly, we observe on the one hand on the inner sides the color of the thin oily coating, on the other the metallic luster playing on the surface of the liquid. To tell then whether the oil is pure or adul- terated we turn to the following table : Oila. Olive Cotton Seaamum.- Groundnut Poppyseed Camelina . . Haxseed . . . Kiipe seed . Colors (natural state). Oily coating. Olive green Green Cbrome green — Greenish yellow - Olive green Persian lake Dragon's blood .. Persian lake Metallic luster. Green. ■Ash green. Sevres blue. Emerald green. Green, light blue. Light bine. Emerald green. Cyprus green. Second ofera^tow.— Examination by saponification of the oils. It sometimes happens that by the first operation the kind of oil used in adulterating is not clear; in that case proceed to saponify the mixture. For this purpose 20 grammes of an alcoholic preparation of caustic pot- ash is dissolved in a larger quantity of 90 per cent, alcohol, not, however, exceeding 100 cubic centimeters. Add 20 cubic centimeters of this solu- tion in a test tube to 10 cubic centimeters of the oil to be tested, shake thoroughly, and heat in a water bath to 92° O., leaving it in the water 20 minutes. Empty the contents of the tube into a porcelain capsule holding say half liter ; fill it with boiling water, adding 50 cubic centi- meters of a 20 per cent, solution of sulphuric acid. After shaking decant the acidified water, again add boiling water until, ^fter several decantations, the last traces of sulphuric acid have gone. Treat the oil thus obtained by the first operation to get a differ cutset of colors as per the following table: Oila. Colors (saponified). Oily coating. Metallic luster. Orange of Mars... Cyprus green. Seaamum Golden yellow Persian Lalc§ Golden ochre Dark chrome Black Do. Poppy seed Blue. Do Flaxseed Burnt carmine In these tables the names of colors are those of water colors, which are the same everywhere. PRESERVING. According to location the olives for preserving are generally gathered by hand when they are still green, in September or October, depend- ing on the locality ; they are thrown into tubs which are full of water OLIVE CULTURE IN THii ALPES MABITIMES. 355 and in which a certain quantity of soda of salicornia has been dissolved. The salicornia and " salsola " of the Chenopodiaceae family grow nat- urally on the Mediterranean coast. When burnt their ashes contain a great quantity of excellent soda, which is used in glass and soap man- ufactories. These plants can be sown on lands that have been overrun by the sea so as to absorb all the soda the sea has left on the soil. The olives are left in this bath 3 or 4 days, when they soften and at the same time are pickled ; then they are placed in small casks with water, salt, and aromatic herbs. The olive is ready for eating when the stone is easily separated from the fruit. Another way to preserve them is to pour over the olives water with ordinary ashes rendered caustic by the addition of a little quicklime; after staying some days in this mixture they are placed in other tubs of clean water, which is changed frequently ; to this water is added muriate of soda and aromatic herbs. When the olives to be preserved are quite ripe the blackest and finest are chosen and exposed to the sun for several days, salt is sprinkled over them, and they are then put in oil. There are some varieties of olives which when perfectly ripe can be eaten as they are in their natural state. The olive tree, evergreen, bears its fruit on the wood of the preceding year, and never twice at the same place ; sprouts readily from the trunk and becomes a vigorous tree. With rational pruning it gives a regular, abundant, and early crop. PRUNING. In regard to pruning, I can not do better than draw largely on Mr. Gos, who seems to agree with the majority of authorities. He says : " Pruning is most important and requisite; it regulates the produc- tion of fruit and improves its quality, making it larger sized and the crop more abundant. The opinions of the agriculturists as to pruning do not agree ; some maintain that the olive tree must be sparingly pruned, as it is the small boughs which bear fruit; some say that it wants a vigorous pruning, as it bears its fruit only on the new wood, and that to have new wood it is necessary to prune vigorously ; others think that every variety wants a distinct system of pruning. All these opinions have no serious basis, and generally come from special cases. What occasions those differences of opinion is that in practice three distinct cases, are present, viz : (A) Trees never having been pruned. (B) Trees not having been pruned for a long time. (0) Trees having always been regularly pruned. The system of pruning being unchanged, the method of application only is different, and it is well to examine closely the operations neces- sitated by the above three cases, two of them being, as regard culture, pathological cases, the last one only being a normal case, on which it is possible to study methodically the pruning that the olive tree requires. 356 OLIVE CULTURE IN THE ALPES MARITIMES. (A) Trees never having been pruned : Those trees are of course full of wood ; they have many confused branches, few boughs lower down, and very picturesque form, not at all favorable for the production of fruit. In these conditions some abundant crops may bo obtained, but they are very irregular ; further, the tree is a complicated mass of ex- hausted branchlets, which are the shelter of numerous parasites. To bring these trees to a regular production some agriculturists would, prune radically, leaving only the stem and the principal branches, but it would be better to pull up the trees or not to prune them at all than to have them submitted to such amputation. When one wishes to submit an olive tree which has never been pruned to a rational pruning it is well to proceed gradually, and to avoid revolutionary prunings, because in years of dryness or of severe cold the greater part of the trees might be destroyed. The best method of pruning is as follows : Cut off the top at a distance from the ground equal to the greatest diameter of the'tree ; although the sacrifice of the tops is often distress- ing it must be done, and the branches cut off will soon be succeeded by new ones more productive and in better form. Clear the inside of the tree, suppress the vertical branches which fol- low the direction of the stem, taiie off the dead wood and all that hinders the climbing of the pickers into the tree ; let every leafy part receive air and light, which are indispensable to good fructification; suppress the branches too close as well as the unhealthy ones, or those which have notsutHcient room to grow ; clear the shoots about the tree, spare the branches which hang towards the ground as the branches of the weeping willow do. This pruning will not bring fruit in the same year; more often it is not until the fourth year that the tree bears fruit; during that time and every spring it will be well to nip off the shoots which would have a tendency to rise above the new top, and during the summer prevent the growth of any suckers, which pruning encourages. Five or six years after the application of the above pruning the olive tree gete again a regular production, and its fruit is larger sized, earlier, more abundant, and less accessible to parasites ; in fact the tree has passed from a wild to a domestic state, and will have to be pruned as the trees having always been regularly pruned. (B) Trees not having been pruned for a long time. The first needful operation in such plantations is the clearing up of the trees; they gen- erally are too close to each other, and therefore want air and light- their roots steal nourishment from each other, and a multitude of para- sites live on their drooping branches; one out of three, sometimes two out of three, must be dug up ; the trees left will be in better condition and can be easily brought into good order. After the clearing up, all dead or unhealthy branches are to be cut off, so the tree will live easily its nutrition not be hindered, and it can have room to spread. After these OLIVE CULTURE IN THE ALPES MARITIMES. 357 two operations the trees will have to be pruned as those having always been regularly pruned. (C) Trees having always been regularly pruned. The aim of the pruning is : First, to give to the tree an agreeable shape in accordance with the laws of production of the fruit. Second, to draw to the extremity of each twig and leaflet the sap which circulates in the plant. Third, to get large-sized, savory, and early fruits. Fourth, to save the tree from the dry winds and the rays of the sun. These aims can not be reached by an irrational pruning ; the physi- ology of the tree must first be studied. Amongst the fruit-beariog trees, some, as the vine, bear their fruit on the wood of the year, some, as the pear and apple tree, bear their fruit only on the old wood ; finally there is found, in olive and peach trees in particular, a form of inter- mediate vegetation. Mr. Kiondet says on this head: A branchlet appears this year and is covered with fruit next year ; the part which has given flowers and fruit will not again do so, but it can ^row for some years until it is fally exhausted and be succeeded by a new branchlet, which grows at its base. The pruning of the peach tree, based on the principle of the annual substitution of a new branchlet on the old one, was brought to remarkable perfection in the environs of Paris and especially at Montreuil; any form you may desire can be given to the peach tree, and, in the hands of a skilled gardener, all branches stand every year completely filled with flowers and fruit. The branchlets of the preceding year blos- som and bear fruit ; but a careful nipping prevents their becoming wood boughs, and brings forward the formation of a new branchlet for the following year ; in this way the peach tree is always provided with new boughs and may, during many years, give regular and abundant crops. The olive tree has just the same form of vegetation as the peach tree, with the sole difference that it easily puts forth new branchlets on its old wood, and this is sufiScient to explain the short life of the unculti- vated peach tree, while the olive tree is almost imperishable. It is well always to bear in mind that the olive tree blossoms only on the wood of the preceding year, but that it can, always and from all sides, put forth new branchlets. After having applied the common principles of pruning, sharp prun- ing on the side of the strongest growth, light pruning and vertical cut- ting on the weaker side to preserve proper proportion among the branches, after having hindered the spreading of the suckers, and after having suppressed them when some have sprouted; after having cleansed the interior of the tree by clearing it of the too abundant shoots, and thus secured the free circulation of air and the action of the sun in all parts of the tree, it is not good to apply the radical pruning spoken of above. Mr. Eiondet says : The pruning of the olive tree is only the clearing of the tree of the branchlets which, after having grown during several years, and after having successively borne fruit on all parts, begin to be exhausted and to dry up. 358 OLIVE CULTURE. IK THE ALPES MARITIME^. The trees are to be pruned after the crop ; they put forth then new branchlets which, the following year, will give flowers and fruit ; in the coarse of spring and summer the shoots are to be cut off and the vertical branches of the top nipped off if possible. Is the olive tree to be pruned often ? A yearly pruning will give a yearly crop ; after the crop (the fruit being as much as possible picked by hand and not knocked down with a pole) all boughs which have borne fruit are to be nipped; new branchlets will grow, but this will not hinder the tree ripening its fruit; a well-cultivated and well-manured tree may have at the same time the power of giving nourishment to the fruit grown on the branchlets of the preceding year and of producing new branch- lets, or of letting the old ones grow longer to prepare the crop of the following year. However, a biennial pruning is to be preferred] it is true that it only brings .i biennial crop ; but it has for effect the sup- pressing, one year out of two ^as we shall see further), of the means of existence of the most destroying parasite of the tree, the Dacus olete. Furthermore, even if that parasite did not exist, it would be ra- tional and especially economical to have one year destined to the pro- duction of wood and the following year to the production of fruit. What is the shape to be given to the olive trees'? The goblet shape is the most simple and the easiest to be formed and kept up ; it is ap- plicable to all varieties of trees ; it allows air, light, and heat to circu- late among the branches, reduces the work of pruning and facilitates the gathering; whese the trees have a tendency to grow too large, it is well when they are young to commence the goblet form in order to maintain proper proportions. Lower and drooping branches must not be cut off, as they give fruit abundantly when they receive air and sunlight. ; to cut them off would be a loss, for the lowest parts of the tree are the most fruitful, more easily reached at harvest time. Proper means to regulate the production of the olive trees.— The trees being well tilled, no other plants cultivated between the rows, a careful pruning of the older twigs after the harvest every two years should be sufficient to keep them in vigorous bearing. Eecapitulation in the order of questions supplied by the State Depart- ment : 1. The verdale and lucques are suggested among many for pre- serving. 2. The cailletier and nirvana are probably as good as any for oil. 3. Names and descriptions are given on sheets 2 and 3 of manuscript. 4. The trees above mentioned are grown within a hundred miles of the sea, and from the shore to at least 2,000 feet above the sea level on hilly and rolling ground, exposed to the southern sun where possible. 5. The questions of climatic influence were quite fully treated in the portion of the" report devoted to oranges and lemons. 6. There is no regular system of irrigation. OLIVE CULTURE IN THE ALPES MARITIMES. 359 7. Cultivation by hoe or plow several times a year. Slieet 3 of man. uscript. 8. Vigorous pruning beneficial ; keep the tree low and of goblet shape. Sheets 25-28 of manuscript. 9. Harvest for oil is gathered from November to May. The earlier the better. For pickling green, in September or October. Sheets 16-25 of manuscript. 10. Trees begin to fruit at from 4 to 5 years. 11. Average yield per tree may be placed at 30 quarts. Sheet 9 of manuscript. 12. Trees should be planted 40 to 50 feet apart. Sheet 3 of manu- script. 13. The tree is propagated as any common fruit tree. Sheet 3 of manuscript. 15. See Bibliography. 16. For account of all the latest researches on insects see the portion of report on the Enemies and Friends of the Tree. The cbief malady, the " Morp6e, " was minutely described in the portion of report referring to oranges. (See Fruit Culture in Foreign Countries.) ENEMIES OF THE OLIVE TREE. There is no tree knowu to have more euemies than the olive ; they attack the wood, the blossom, the leaves, and the fruit. These foes do not include the cold and the fogs, both of which are very injurious to this sensitive plant; great drought and warm winds are also detrimental to its welfare. The olive tree has to bear the at- tacks of certain mammifers, certain small birds, and insects of nearly every description. (I) Mammipeks. In certain localities young trees must be guarded against the teeth of rabbits and against cattle. The field mice [Mus sylvaticus), are great consumers of olives ; but as they only attack fallen fruit, which ought to be considered as uulitfor oil, I consider them as very trifling culprits. (2) BlEDS. Among birds of medium size there are some which feed on the olive itself; these are the thrush (Turdus musicus), the black bird {Turdus merula), the stsuling [Stunms vulgaris), the arngpie {Pica melanoleuca); others feed on the almond or kernel ; the Goooothraustes vulgaris, and the Loxia ciirvirostra. One can say that birds in general are fond of olives ; but as the appetite of the smaller kinds, such as the warbler, the robin redbreast, flgeaters, the wren, etc., is very quickly satisfied, and as they devour a much greater quantity of insects than fruit, one should Class them among the friends of the olive tree. The thrush and the black bird consume a very large quantity of olives; there are certain parts of the country in autumn where these birds literall;^ swarm ; they seek among the olive trees their resting- place for the night, and before roosting they partake of their evening meal; this operation they do not perform in silence, far from it, for from far away one can hear their noisy chatter; it is to these birds that we are indebted for the wild olive tree which grows in the forests ; they are therefore of some utility ; but can this be compared to the enormous damage they do ? I do not think so ; therefore the farmer who comes with his gun to disturb the feast of these devastators can not be blamed. The Coccothraustes vulgaris and the Loxia curvirostra, which must not be confounded one with the other, both belong to the families of 361 362 OLIVE CULTURE IN THE ALPES MAEITIMES. sparrows and conirostres. Both are birds of passage, which rest wher- ever they find abundant food ; they emigrate towards the Mediterra- nean about the month of November; they are heavy stubby birds of the size of a large sparrow ; they have great strength in their claws and in their beaks; they use themfor opening pine cones and the stones of other fruits so as to get at the kernel ; both these birds are preju- dicial to the olive harvest in this sense, that they attack the fruit in order to get at the stone, out of which they extract the kernel ; the Coccothraustes vulgaris specially is very wasteful, for every olive which he may eat he plucks fifty; thcrefoi'e one can not declare too severe war against them ; they are easily distinguished from other birds by their size and by their call, which is not very shrill. The starling ravages the olive trees that are in the neighborhood of marshes. Lastly, the magpie, which is almost unknown in the Alpes Maritimos, eats olives wherever found. • (3) Insects. 1 have said before that the olive tree has to fear nearly all insects ; among the Hymenoptera, the ants {Cremastogaster soutellaris and Gam- ponotus pubescens). Among the Golcoptera, Phlceotribus olew, or Neiron ; Hylasinus fraxini ; Gionusfraxini ; Pentelus Schcenherri, and Gremissi; Othiorliynohur meridionalis ; Ghilianii and olew ; Apion galactitis, a,ud others of the same species, etc. Among the Neuroptera: The Termite GalotermasflavicoUis. Among the Hemiptera : Phlceothrips olece of Tar- gioni (or black worm or Barban) ; Uuphyllura olece or Psylla olece, and several cochineals {Lecanium clew, Aspicliotus villosus, Mytilaspis flava, Pollinia costce, Pliilippia foUicularis), etc. Among the Lepidoptera: Pray^s oleellus or miner caterpillar is really dangerous ; Margarodes unionalis, the caterpillar of which is dangerous for shoots and for the graftings; Zelleria, oleastrella Boarmia umbrasia, Metrooampa honoraria. These three last species attack more particu- larly the wild olive trees. Among the Diptera: Dacus olece, or Keiron. The list is a long one; I shall start with the Hysienopteea Ants. (1) Gremastogaster scutellaris. — I had at first, after reading Laure, placed that ant essentially southern among the friends of the olive- trees, but since arguing the point very seriously with two of my col- leagues of the entomological society, I have been forced to alter my opinion, and obliged to bring down this insect from the pedestal on which I was disposed to let it remain. One of these colleagues was kind enough to give me a description of the Gremastogaster scutellaris taken from nature; I will now reader his aceount, which I am, to my great regret, obliged to curtail ; OLIVE CULTUKB IN THE ALPES MARITIMES. 363 The head of the male insect is round and short ; the mandibles are large; the maxillary palpi are of 5 articulations; labial palpi of 3; an- tenuteof 12 ; the thorax is rather compressed; it is armed with two thorns, which diverge a little; the first articulation of the petiole is flat; the second is nodiform and hollow above a longitudinal groove, rather deep, which divides it in two parts ; the abdomen is united to the petiole, not by its fore side as in most of the other ants, but by its antero, superior part, which is nearly heart-shaped ; generally this insect is black and the head bright red, the leg brownish red ; sometimes the thorax and the petioles are also red ; length 3 to 5 miliiuetres. These cremastogasters advance in a file along the olive trees, carob trees, and other trees. Laure says that they are in search of the scars that the Dacus has made in the olives in order to deposit its eggs ; the former is hunting for these eggs. It is certain that this ant has an ob- ject in wandering over the trunk and leaves of the olive tree ; but it is not at all proved that these insects are any help against the invasions of the Dacus, for the female of this dipteran, when deposiling. her eggs in the olive, makes an insignificant wound in the fruit, and the larva is too deeply sunken in the latter for it to be possible to be got at by the ant. The cremastogaster could, if it were in any way carnivorous, attack the fly when, still weak, it leaves the olive. It is far more likely that they are hunting for cochineals peculiar to the olive trees, not to destroy them, but to utilize them for their own benefit. This is what this insect does, according to the opinion of Mr. Ernest Andr6, who has made a special study of the ant : The Cremas- togaster scutellaris, says he, is far from frequenting specially the olive tree; it is found on other trees of entirely different natures; its object is to look for the plant-louse and the cochineals, of which it delights to suck the liquid dejections. The case described by Laure is void of any foundation, and quite contrary to what is known about the habits of the ant. The visits which the cremastogaster pays to the wounded olives are simply to suck the juice which may by chance run out, for it is proved that the ant cannot mastigate its food. One of my colleagues goes further and says that the ants not only furrow galleries under the bark of trees which are detrimental to them, but carry their love for the plant-louse and the cochineal so far as to pick them up from the soil where they may have fallen accidentally, and carry them back to the tree where they find their food. It is therefore useful to look after the nests of the cremastogaster under the trees or under their bark, and to destroy them when found. (2) Gamponotus pubescens.— It is a large black ant which abounds on the trees attacked by the Morfde; this insect evidently comes to lick the Lecanium oleas. The camponotus seems to live in good under- standing with the cremastogaster. 364 OLIVE CULTURE IN THE ALPES MARITIMES COLEOPTEEA. (1) Oklosotribus olew. — This iusect is a Ooleopter, of the ravaging fam- ily of the Xylophagans, and is known in these regious by the local names of Neiroun, Neiron, Courcoussoun, Babarotte, Obareugon; in Italy it goes by the name of Tunteruolo deWolivo. This is its scientific description : Length, 2 millimetres ; of blackish tint, covered with a greyish down ; the head is indented ; the mandibles are projecting; the face is flattened and finely dotted; the antennse are in proportionate length with the size of the insect ; the last articulation is divided in three leaves of unequal size, having the shape of a rake, of reddish tint, and bristled with hairs of a special type, showing their connection with the great family of Lamellicorus ; the body is convex, narrower in the fore part than the hind, round on the sides ; elytra convex, very dot- ted, ornamented with 10 very prominent striae, bristling with red hairs ; the body is thick set ; the legs are brown. The Phloeotribus has under its elytra membranous wings which it uses readily. This insect is con- sidered after the Dacus or Keiron, of which I will speak later, the most injurious insect to the olive harvest. It attacks the tree itself while the Keiron attacks only the fruit. It not only does harm to the tree by injuring and weakening its fruit-producing branches, but by the shelter which its abandoned holes give to the Phlceothrips or black worm, in which the latter deposits its eggs and where it goes through its various transformations ; therefore every one ought to do all that is possible to destroy tbem entirely. In 1826 Professor Eisso mentions, without giving any detail, an in- sect which he denominates " Gionus destructor;" it seems to me to be the same Phlceotribus olew. In 1843 the engineer Bertrand mentions three insects which must have some analogy with the Phloeotribus ; the Scarabee of the olive-tree which attacks only dead wood, which seems to be the " Apate sex-dentata," of which I will not say anything now; the " Bostriche, " which is the Hylesinus; and lastly the "Vril- lette " of the olive tree, which seems to me to be no other than the Phloeotribus for the very reason of the characteristic division of the enlargement of its antennae in three branches. The author adds that the larva nourishes itself on the alburnum of the tree and lives on the small branches which it kills. In 1848 Bompar of Draguignan gives more ample details than his predecessors; he exposes the errors made by Amouroux and Bernard, and makes mistakes himself by stating that the Phlceotribus is born and lives on the olive tree, that it rarely flies, and that it feeds rather on the dry wood of the olive tree than on its young and tender shoots. He even goes so far as to say that it might very well originate from the sap when in fermentation in the wood separated from the tree, and ends by putting this singular ques- tion : " Is the germ ambient ? " Dr. Martineng, of Grasse, published in 1803 and 1864 two reports on OLIVE CULTURE IN THE ALPES MAKITIMES. 365 the Neiron, in which he gives a summary of the very judicious remarks of Mr. Bernard^ proprietor at Chateauneuf. I have road with a great deal of care Mr. Martiaeng's notes and havie compared his with mine and have arrived at the conclusion that Mr. Bertrand was correct, and what great service his observations might have been to the agricul- turists had they only been followed ! The following is an analysis of the reports of Dr. Martineng showing wherein our observations differ: There is not a single olive farmer who does not know, or who has not observed that small insect, the size of a millet seed, which measures bnt 1 millimetre from its head to its abdomen, burrowing to deposit its eggs under the bark of the branches which'havebeen cut off in pruning at the end of the winter or early spring. These branches are in a very short time pierced all over with small holes, rendered notice- able by a yellowish dust, which is thrown out by the insect while establishing its interior galleries. Mr. Martineng continues; The branches preferred by the Neiron are those of medium size, where the bark is soft and thick and preserves for a longer time than the smaller ones moisture sufficient for the development of the eggs. It is easy to observe that the eggs deposited in too small branches do not mature. It has been noticed that the insect only attacks the branches which have been pruned between January and July, for branches cut off after this period and placed in the samp conditions as those pruned in the spring are not covered with Neiron. That observation, which in my opinion is open to discussion, has cer- tainly one use, viz, to show the advantage or disadvantage of keeping the branches which have been cut off anywhere near the olive-tree plantations, also what is the proper period lor pruning the trees. Messrs. Bernard and Martineng divide the existence of the Neiron in two very distinct phases, the laying of the eggs in the newly-cut branches and the damages caused to the tree itself. It gnaws the soft bark that surrounds the young shoots which bear the next year's harvest, and very often perforates through and through theyoung branches; it seems to select the angle formed by two shoots, choosing generally the part opposed to the direction of the rain and avoiding the north exposure ; its galleries are not deep and it abandons them willingly to go and form others in the vicinity. The Neiron lives all the year round on the olive tree, except at the time of laying its eggs, in the boughs cut off in pruning. This opera- tion begins at the end of the winter and lasts 45 to 50 days, sometimes till the mouth of June. It is very likely that the parents die as soon as they have secured a shelter for their progeny. Mr. Bertrand was of opinion that the female insect produced the larva directly itself, but Mr. Martineng has corrected this error. It is useless to explain at length that the female Phloeotribns, being fecundated, deposits its eggs in small recesses, often very numerous, which both insects, male and female, have excavated in the galleries they have tunneled, and that these eggs are covered over with the dust of the wood, which they resemble in color and size. It is for this reason that they have escaped Mr. Bernard's observation. 619a 3 366 OLIVE CULTURE IN THE ALPES MAEITIMES. One can see, adds Mr. Martineng, the young larva start, on leaving its birthplace, to perforate the branch in its length, piercing galleries in a line more or less perpen- dicular to those made by its parents. By the middle of July all larvashaye changed into Neirons, and one only finds in the branches either dead or imperfect larvae. As soon as the insect is perfect it perforates the barli from within, escapes to the trees, and commences its ravages. Are these ravages real? Can they be attributed to the Neiron? Messrs. Bertrand and Martineng say so, and I, for my part, certify that I have observed them many times and have shown their work to many agriculturists, who only notice the loss of their olives year by year due to the Keiron or Dacus, but take no measures to protect their trees from this real danger threatening them. It 18 the Neiron, continues Mr. Martineng, which undermines the young shoots and causes them to dry up and fall. Does this insect lay its eggs on the live tree ? That point has not yet been solved, adds the doctor. Nearly all authors seem to agree that there is only one generation of Phlceotribus olese per annum, and that that generation takes birth exclusively on the wood that has been cut down ; hundreds of these insects have died in my glass cases after having lived in them for weeks, and after having caused very visible damage to the young olive branches placed with them. As I said, these insects died without sex- ual connection, and therefore without having prepared a second gener- ation. In my observations I have not noticed on the branches of young trees the trace of secondary galleries indicating the work of the larva; we can not perhaps conclude from this that the insect hatched in June or July and which has gone through its different metamorphoses in 50 or 60 days, only remains until the following spring before satisfying the laws of procreation. Bernard, Campanio, Bompar, and others admit of several annual generations, and the following I translate from the "Annales d' Agriculture" of Florence, published in 1879. It is the most thoughtful and recent document which I have found on this subject: The honorable Baron G. Kioasoli senb-in 1877 from Valdarno and from the province of Sienna, to the entomological society of Florence, and this society also received in 1878 (April 20) of the agricultural meeting of Perouse, young olive branches in which were confined a, few female insects of the first generation of the Phlceotribus oleai {Punteouolo dell oUvo), engaged in perforating their galleries and in depositing the eggs of their summer generation, so fatal to the branches that boar blossom, and so preparing for a third and fourth generation to create havoc in the harvest of the fol- lowing year. There can, therefore, be in the course of a year several generations of Phlceotribus oleiB, either in the wood that has been cut off or on the branches which have been attacked on the tree. This would show the necessity of fighting against the most important of these genera- tions, the best proven in my opinion, the one found on the wood cut oft in pruning which we have at hand, and which offers us a way, if not of destroying the enemy completely, at least of reducing its numbers materially. OLIVE CULTURE IN THE ALPES MARITIMES. 367 Mr. Oompanio, of Perpiguan, is the only one to my knowledge who has spoken of a parasite of Phlceotribus olete, which he describes under the name of Locusta arachnoida (arachnoid grasshopper), and of which he gives a rather singular illustration ; it is possible that in the " Py- renees Orientales" the Phlceotribus has a parasite, or rather an enemy ; but though I have made numerous researches I have failed to find any- thing similar in these regions. From what I have said it is certain that when the pruning season comes, viz, the end of the winter or iu the spring, one must separate in two lots the cut wood of medium size and the small branches, which must contain more or less Phlceotrips, Cochineals, Psylles, of which I will speak later ; these ought to be burnt at once, and the larger branches and limbs, which must be thoroughly investigated so as to find out whether the Neiron has attacked them. Twenty days after, when one can have sure proof that the larva is living and working, the best thing is to burn all this wood that has served as a trap, or if one wishes to keep the wood, one ought to singe it well and take off the bark, or to leave it for several days under water, then dry it and place same in a dry place, hermetically closed, and as far as possible from any olive plantation. If the limbs cut off be burned, it is advisable to do so at night, as in so doing one has a chance of destroying many moths and TineidsB which are detrimental to the olive tree. As for the wood which is cut from July to the winter, the small branches particularly are full of living Phlceotribus and Hylesinus, many Phlceotrips and caterpillars also, and must be burned immediately ; but one can use the larger wood which does not, at this time of the year> serve as nests ; it is nevertheless advisable to look it over from time to time should it be in vicinity of any olive plantation. Personally I should like this wood treated in the way above mentioned. Mr. Martineng, who- arrived at conclusions very similar to my own, ends his report by a remark made by Mr. Punel de Clausoune, chair- man of the Society of Agriculture of Nice: Many persons, says Mr. Funel de Clausonne, appear surprised to see tlie Neiron leave, the living tree to attack the branch which has been separated from it. The Neiron lays its eggs in the spring when the trees are turgid with sap. It could act work and lay its microscopic eggs in the living bark where the current of sap was in constant motion ascending and descending. The damage caused by the Neiron to the olive trees was known im- perfectly by the mayor of Pelissaune, for in 1857 this magistrate, acting in accordance with the laws of 1831 and 1837, made decree iu order to fight the ravages caused by the insect named by him " Barbarotte." He ordered the immediate removal of all cut wood into a far-away shed, or the same to be burnt. This measure, though incomplete, showed, it is said, very good results. In 1878 the Society of Agriculture of Nice gave, in its pamphlet en- titled " The wood of the olive tree," excellent advice to the oil farmers. 368 OLIVE CULTURE IN THE ALPKS MARITIME8. 1 have one objection to make; that is, they recommend the immediate removal of the wood which has been cut off; by leaving for 20 days or so the heavier wood where it fell, the purpose in my opinion would be better attained. The Phloeotribus olece or Neiron is therefore a coleopteran, a relation of the weevils, it is true, but belonging to the family of the Xylopha- gans, while the Thrips, or Phlceothrips, called in these regions black worm, or "Barbau,"isa Hemipter Thysanopter; they are insects of size, shape, nature, and habits essentially different ; their only simili- tude is their propensity to injure the olive trees. Hylesimis fraxini. — The Hylesinus fraxini seems not to be very well known by agriculturists in general, who mistakes it for the Phloeotri- bus, or Neiron. It has been little studied by authors who have wrongly described its mode of living and the damages it causes to the olive tree. It is said that this coleopteran causes its ravages while still in the state of larva, that the female whilst pregnant chooses a branch upon which it deposits its progeny, which can be detected by reddish or greenish-gray spots which appear where the attack has taken place. My observations, on the contrary, show that the Hylesinus behaves in a manner very similar in every way to the Phloeotribus. It is at the end of the winter or early spring that the Hylesinus follows the Phloeo- tribus onto the cut wood; like the latter, it operates in couples; but while the Phloeotribus attacks the medium-sized branches, the Hylesinus chooses the heavy wood as being more fit to protect its larva, and makes its hole generally in the rough parts, more often near the spot where the previous year a branch has been cut off, where the wood is dead. The couple or pair work in a manner identical to that of the Phloeotribus and deposit, like it, their eggs in cells arranged along gal- leries; the larva works lengthways of the wood; when matured into a perfect insect it regains the living tree, where it'forms galleries, which have not a very great depth, and chooses the spot where the young branches are attached to the tree, thus causing their decay. The Hylesinus fraxini is less thick-set than the Phloeotribus, less dark and more varied in color; its elytra are longer than their width and have 6 striae. Its principal distinction from the Phloeotribus is that its size is double that of the other, and that its antennae, instead of being terminated in three unequal branches like a rake, are ended by a mace in the shape of a heart. The larva is in proportion for size with the insect; it is curled in half circle, larger in the fore than after part, apodal, whity and regularly wrinkled, while that of the Phloeo- tribus is much smaller in size, deformed, irregular, and with a large head. The ways of destroying this insect are the same as those recommended for the Phloeotribus, and as this insect chooses from preference the rough and dead parts it is advisable to cut off as far as possible these refuges from the living tree; therefore, in keeping not only the trunk but the OLIVE CULTURE IN THE ALPES MARITIMES. 369 branches in a very clean state one will be able to destroy a great quan- tity, not only of Phloeotribus and Hylesinus, but also of Phlceothrips; of this latter I will speak later on. The result of my observations is that the Hylesinus is to the Phloe- otribus in number and proportion as 1 is to 10; but as it is twice the size of the latter, and as its wounds to the living tree are in proportion to its size, it may be considered as very injurious. Gionus fraxim.—The olive tree has still in the family of Coleoptera another enemy all the more dangerous as it only attacks the shoots which would bear fruit, the young trees, and the grafts, which it rapidly strips of their leaves. I was able to study all the transformations of a curculionida which in the state of a perfect insect, as well as wlien a larva, caused in 1865 and 1866 in Nice and its neighborhood real injury to the young olive trees. This insect, which was the Clonus frazini, appears in April after hav- ing most likely spent the winter under the bark, and deposits its eggs on the leaves of the shoots, or of the young trees. The larva is yellowish, sticky, attacks the white of the leaf, the under part, which it eats in Irregular spots without touching the bright green surface. After 10 or 12 days this larva has attained its full maturity ; it selects a leaf and, uniting under itself the two extremities of its body, forms itself into a ball, loses its yellowish tint, its stickiness, turns to a gray color, then white, dries up and becomes transparent. After 24 hours one can only notice a perfectly oval-shaped shell, in which the larva, deprived of its coat, spins freely ; one can see it (with the assistance of its mandibles) thickening, rounding, and polishing its abode, which takes an amber tint; it has accomplished these transformations by coat- ing its body with a slimy substance which is excreted by a retractable nipple situated on the upper part of the terminal segment of its abdo- men ; this substance allows the insect to attach itself to the leaves or to protect itself from the rain or sun. When in the state of a nymph it takes a rest, and prepares itself for its last transformation, which takes 8 or 10 days; then the insect perforates its shell with the aid of its rostrum, cutting an exactly spherical segment. Then the tJionus spreads on the leaves, which it devours in the same way as the larva, or on the edges ; they pair, then fly to the summit of young trees, which they prefer. Here is the scientific description of the Clonus fraxini: Oentennse, tawny; proboscis, or trunk, cylindrical and curved, brown at its basis, black at extremity ; head, grayish-brown, with the upper part blackish ; corselet narrower than the elytra, of a brownish-gray, with upper part blackish; elytra of a whity gray, with small striae not very distinct, dotted with brown and gray ; some- times there is a large black spot alike on both elytra, which extends from the base to the center ; under part of the body covered with dark- gray scales; feet tawny; thighs dentated on the under side. 370 OLIVE CULTURE IN THE ALPES MARITIMES. The male is smaller than the female, its rostrum is shorter ; the mark ings on the elytra varj^ much in both sexes ; as soon as hatched they seek one another and commence mating, which is not the habit of the PhlcBotribus nor the Hylesinus fraxini. It is in its perfect insect state that this one of the curculionidse causes the most damage ; its appetite not only leads it to devour the leaves upon which it walks from end to end, making a mark a milli- metre wide, but it digs its rostrum into the soft and tender shoots, which are full of sap, making wounds which infallibly cause the loss of both flower and fruit which their shoots were to bear. I have noticed that from April till the end of July there might be two seasons of laying, and that the first was always deposited on the young shoots or grafts; the best way I can suggest to fight against this enemy is to shake the young shoots over an open umbrella, reversed so that by the shaking the insect would fall in the receptacle thus prepared ; the leaves could also be examined, when it is easy to detect the larva in the act of pre- paring its abode for the purpose of its various transformations. The larvte of the Cionus fraxini are attacked by several species of Hymenop- tera ; the larva, stung by the Hymeuopter, depositary of its enemy's egg, continues its existence and becomes food for the parasites, which transform themselves into a small chrysalis, of a metallic black color, admirable in shape. Of 10 cocoons, 5 have given birth to Hymeuoptera. Peritelus Schcenherri. — This coleopteran belongs essentially to the south ,and is of the family of the -1843). COUTANCE— Olivier.— Paris, 1877. Eisso.— Histoire uaturelle des productions de I'Europe M^ridionale.— Paris 187C. B.\RBE pfeHE. — Etude sur I'oiivier. — Nice, 1875. BOMPAR. — M^moire sur les insectes iiui vivent aux depens de I'oliviero. Rosier.— Trait6 d'agriculture (1801). ROUBAXDI.— Nice et ses environs, Paris and Turin (1843). MaRtinexg. — Two reports — sur les insectes rongeurs des oliviers. Grasse (1863- 1864). Annali de Agricoltura. — Rome (1879). Annales de la Socii:Ti5 Agricole des Pyr^niSies-Orien-tales (1858). SociiiTi; Entomologique df, France (1886). Haliday. — The Entou Mag. Targioni Tozzeti. — Annalidi Agricoltura.— Florence and Rome (1881). Passerimi. — Alcune notiziesapra una specie de insecti.— Florence (18341. Mazzarosa. — Le pratiche della campagna Lucohese. — Lucca (1846). De Fonscolombe. — Annalesde la Soci^t^ Entomologique de France. (1837 and 1840.) LiCHTENSTEix. — Manuel d'entomologie ^I'nsage des agriculteurs du Midi. — (1S7-2.) GOUREAU. — Annales de la Soci^t^ Entomologique de France. SiGN-ORET.— (1840, 1868, 1869, 1870, 1871, 1878.) Stainton. — (London . ) MiLLiftRE. — Iconographie et description de chenilles et deLepidopteres. 3 vol., with plates. (1859, 1864, and 18^9.) JOUARD DE Grasse. — (1772.) Catjvix.— Observation sur le Tephrite. — Nice (1842. ) .GuifeRlN-MBNXEVii,l.E. — Insectes qui attaquent I'olivier. Soci6t6 Entomologique de France. (1843-1847.) Maurice Girard. — Catalogue des animaux utiles et nuisibles, 2 volumes. Paris (1878). L' Ax,B^ LoQUEZ. — Histoire naturelle de la Morph^e. — Nice. A. Peragallo. — L' Olivier, etc. — ^Nice (1882). F. Gos. — Olivier — Conseils pratiques aux agriculteurs. — Nice (1887). BrulliS.— Rapport sur I'emploi d'uue nouvelle machine a d^pulper les olives.— Nice (1889). Influence des Engrais sur I'olivier.— Nice (1890). Falsifications de I'huile d'olive et moyens de les reconnaitre. — Nice (1890). William Harbison Bradley, Consul. U. S. CONSXILATE, Nice, December 6, 1890. 391 i:NrDEX. The Olive Tree : Importance of, and varieties, 337 ; working an olive orchard, 328 ; pruning the trees, 339 and 355 ; cultivation and manuring, 339 ; mineral composi- tion of the olive, :!41; consumption of nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash by the olive tree, 342 ; formulse of chemical manures, 345-347 ; harvesting the crop, 347. Oil Manufacture : Oilmills,348; virgin oil, 34b; first and second qualities of oil, 351; oil yield and refuse, 351; keeping and restoration, 352; proving the oil hy illu- minated nitric acid, 352-354 ; preserving the oil, 354. Enemies of the Olive Tree : Mammifers and birds, 361. Insects — Hymenoptera ants, 362, 363 ; coleoptera, 364-371 ; cantharides vesica- toria and neuroptera, 371; hemiptera, 372; false pucherons, 373-375; cochineals, 375-377; lepidoptera, 377-380; dipterans (dacus olea), 380-387. Friends of the Olive : Birds, spiders, etc., 388, 3»9. Recapitulation 369 Bibliography 391