A Practical Treatise on Olive Culture, Oil Making and Olive Pickling/Chapter 6
CHAPTER VI.
VARIETIES.
We are told by Coutance that the primitive type of the Oleaster, or wild olive tree, has been modified in many manners, that numerous varieties have sprung up, that the nomenclatures prevailing in different localities do not correspond with each other, that it, therefore, is impossible to give a general catalogue which would comprise all the cultivated varieties of the olive tree.
Other authorities on the subject enumerate varieties in vast numbers. One writer will indicate certain ones not mentioned in another, and some of them, not satisfied with the varieties generally known, seem to take the task of discovering new ones, after the manner of an astronomer in quest of new planets. Moreover, the names vary according to the country, and it is often the case that different olive trees are designated under the same name. When thus the high priests in oleiculture have admitted the impossibility of giving a complete catalogue of the innumerable varieties of the olive tree, how could I dare to undertake so arduous a task?
I judge it then more practical to confine my attention solely to the varieties already most generally known in California, that have been acclimatized here after many years of cultivation, and I shall simply cite all that I have been able to learn of their respective merits, leaving it to more daring writers to recommend better ones among the great list of those known in all the olive regions of Europe, Asia and Africa. Let any one who will feel so inclined experiment with some of these latter ones, as regards their adaptability to our soil and climate, and wait years and years before realizing whether or not they will give better products in greater abundance and in shorter time than those that are already known to us.
Why should it be different with the olive tree from what it is with the vine? Who ignores the fact that in the wine districts of Burgundy, of Champagne, of Bordeaux, and in other places, vineyards in immediate proximity to one another, cultivated in the very same manner, and planted with cuttings belonging to the same variety give wines of a different character; while one will be considered of an ordinary quality the other will rank among the most renowned. Will the combined influences of soil, climate and exposition, which are of great importance for the products of the vine, work in a less degree for those of the olive tree?
Moreover, while planting the varieties which are already well known in California if, in years to come, it is satisfactorily demonstrated to us that better ones have been acclimatized, it will always be in order to use them for grafting our trees, after the experiments, which are generally pretty costly in agriculture, will have been made by those who have time and money to risk in that beneficent manner.
We have therefore at present these three varieties pretty generally known: The Picholine, the Mission and the Queen, or Reyna. We will take them by turn and quote what the writers most reputed on the subject have to say of them.
Reynaud. Picholine, called also Colliasse. This variety was named after Picholini, of Saint Chamas, France, an intelligent agriculturist of the last century, who was the first to graft the Sauvageon on the Saourin and obtained such good results therefrom that a sort of enthusiasm seized the whole country in favor of that practice which has been quite generally followed ever since. In the Gard district, from the plains to the top of the mountains, even in the fissures of the rocks, every spot where there is but a little vegetal earth is covered with this variety of the olive. It should also be said that the Picholine, amongst all other varieties is the one that seems to be the least subject to the attacks of insects. It is known to bear in much greater abundance than the more common trees of the country.
Du Breuil. Picholine, called Saurin at Nimes, Sourenque at Aix, Plant d'Istres at Beziers: oil very good. The fruit is the best among those for pickling. The tree is very fertile.
Coutance. Picholine, alias Piquette, Sanrins Coiasse, Plant d'Istres, Lechin: variety cnltivated mostly in Provence, France. Oil fine and sweet; esteemed for pickling.
Michaux. The Picholine gives the most celebrated pickled olives. This variety is not difficult in the choice of soil and climate.
Pohndorff. Picholine, also called Lechin, Cuquillo, Olea ovalis, oblonga, Taurine, Plant d' Istres, Collias and Coias, known as the fine, sweet-pickling fruit bearing tree, which received its name from an agriculturist of last century of the name of Picholini. This tree is little damaged by insects. The fleshy olives, which stick to the kernel, are of red color when ripe, yielding a very good oil, and for pickling green, excellent. This tree resists in cold regions up to 14° C. below zero (about 7° above zero Fahrenheit).
Bleasdale. The best olive for pickling is the Picholine (olea ablonga). It is also valuable for oil.
W. G. Klee. The Picholine is a very hardy and rapidly growing variety.
Bernays. The Picholine, alias Colliasse, is known in France, Provence, as the best olive for pickling. It is among other choice varieties for oil. This tree is among the most productive kinds and possesses the additional advantage, in common with a few others, that it never grows large, thus the fruit is easily gathered.
Let us add to the credit of the Picholine that the much lamented Mr. B. B. Redding, while in Europe many years ago, studied most carefully the question of the olive tree. After many careful researches and comparisons he pronounced in favor of the Picholine as the variety that seemed to be most likely to give the best results in the California soil and climate. It is to him mostly that we are indebted for having this most excellent variety among us.
Let us see now what has been said of the Mission.
Pohndorff. The California Mission olive is the Cornicabra Cornezuelo variety, which requires more heat than any other. In the northern oil zone of Spain, the Cornicabra tree of great size is called Azebuche, or wild olive tree, for the reason that the fruit does not ripen there. The regions of Saragossa and Salamanca in Spain, are not warm enough to allow the fruit of the Cornicabra—known in California under the name of the Mission—to mature. In certain parts of our State, at San Diego for instance, the fruit of the Cornicabra ripens as early as the end of October.
W, G. Klee, of the University of California, tells us that when, the mission fathers first landed in California, they brought with them two varieties of olives, one of which especially has been propagated throughout the State, but that, although a most excellent and hardy variety, it is here as it is in Spain, adapted to the warmer parts of the country only.
Gustav Eisen, the well known vineyardist of Fresno, who has planted both the Picholine and the Mission, says: The Picholine seems to do well, is easily grown and transplanted, but the Mission I consider as less valuable. The first year when transplanted it generally loses all its leaves. It grows only very poorly from cuttings, and bears only when six to seven years old.
H. N. Bollander, who had charge of the botany of the geological survey of the State, and John Ellis, of the horticultural department of the University, have reported that the Mission olive is a shy bearer.
Major Utt says that the Mission olives will ripen two months later than other European olives.
As per the Queen Olive, Reyna:
Bleasdale says that it is of very large size and is pickled for eating. The tree of this variety produces but little fruit, and the fruit when pressed yields very little oil.
Coutance. Spanish olive; large berry, oil bitter, esteemed for pickling.
After the aforementioned quotations is it necessary to give an additional reason in support of my belief that the Picholine ranks among the most desirable varieties for California? I was born in the oil regions of France, where the Picholine reigns supreme. I was saturated, I might say, from boyhood to manhood with Picholine oil and Picholine pickled olives. On my arrival at Napa, and while visiting its beautiful valley and the surrounding sections, I soon realized the correctness of the reports I had read about its climate compared to that of the south of France and of northern Italy, a very exact confirmation of which was given lately by Mr. Albert Sutliffe in the following words:
"The citizen of California who travels in Italy and the south of France cannot fail to remark the similarity of soil, climate, conformation of ground and general atmospheric conditions to those to which he has been accustomed on the Pacific Coast. In the vicinity of Marseilles the summer is almost absolutely rainless, while the winter rains are copious. The heat of midsummer is warm, but generally tempered by sea winds." It is thus that, guided as much by the sweet remembrances of the past as by the careful studies I made of the subject, I did not hesitate to adopt the Picholine for my own plantation.
Let us see now where the olive oils most reputed come from.
Elwood Cooper's Treatise on olive culture: Extending from the promontory of Saint Tropez, in France, to Lavonia, in Italy, in the gulf of Genoa, Nice is situated, whose reputation for the best oil has succeeded all other places in the world.
Bernays. The finest kinds of oils have hitherto come from Provence, in France, and Lucca, in Italy; the commoner from the Levant, Mogador, Spain, Portugal and Sicily. The olive tree will thrive and be most prolific in dry, calcareous, schistous, sandy or rocky situations; it will bear sooner and be more prolific than if grown in the rich soil.
Coutance. The oils of Spain are of a very inferior quality, especially when compared to those of France and Italy. They sell at a lower price than the latter.
DuBreuil. If the olive tree does not thrive well in a cold climate, it fares no better in very warm regions. It has reached great size at Cayenne, at San Domingo, but it never bore fruit there.
Bertile. The African coast produces a very inferior article, which can only be used for lamp oil or grease. Some of the Islands of the Grecian Archipelago and the western shore of the Adriatic produce better oil, but destitute of sweetness and suppleness, qualities most desired by consumers, and only found in the oil made in the valleys south of the Alpa.
Dunham J. Crain, American Consul at Milan. The best article is produced in moderately warm regions. Thus, the oils of Italy are more esteemed than those of the Orient, and of the former, the oils of Pisa, Lucca, and San Remo are better than those of Sicily and the Neapolitan provinces.
G. Saint James: Pliny awards the palm to the smaller olive, the oil of which was at least more delicate than that produced in the western countries. So far as regards the oil of Spain, and to a certain extent, that of Italy, this judgment holds good to the present time, for the reason that the Spanish olive is a larger and coarser fruit, while the Italian growers are too apt to detract from the limpid delicacy of the virgin oil, by the sacrifice of quality to quantity. It is almost impossible for any one to realize the exquisite delicacy of the first expression of the freshly gathered olive, unless he has sojonrned in such a district as that of which Avignon, France, is the center.. The oil of Aramont, in Provence, was formerly supposed to have no equal in Europe. The oils produced in the south-east of France remain without a rival among those of the whole world.
The numerous quotations I have just given seem to demonstrate in a conclusive manner that the larger the fruit, the coarser is its quality; also, that the olive tree requires a temperate climate, and that an excess of heat acts unfavorably on the fineness of its product.
From this, we can infer that the oil that will be made in the Napa, Sonoma and Sacramento valleys, whose climate is very similar to the one of Provence, in France, and Tuscany, Italy, will be of a finer grade than that produced in southern California, where the climate presents more striking analogy to that of Spain, Portugal and Sicily.
It can also be inferred that the varieties of the olive tree so reputed in Provence, and among which the Picholine holds a most honorable place, are those that will grow best on the hills of Napa and regions surrounding, while the Spanish varieties, to which the Mission and Queen belong, will be best adapted to the southern climate, where, however, they will give, as they do in Spain, a common product.
Bleasdale seems to confirm this theory, when he states that the olive tree flourishes in Egypt, Arabia and Persia, but that no one seems to dispute the poor quality of its product.
It is but just to state that a good oil is already produced in California, made out of the Mission variety; but it is made pure; it is so given in a virgin state to consumers, and this is the main cause of its merit, and of the great demand it enjoys. It thus gains by comparison with the trade oils that come from France and Italy which are mostly liberally mixed with cotton-seed oil, linseed oil, lard oil, etc.
We read in a Consular's report from Milan, that no unadulterated olive oil is exported from Italy, and statistics show that not enough genuine olive oil, fit for table use, is produced to supply the wants of the world. Much that is sold as olive oil, is the oil from cotton seed or sesame seed. Hog's lard is shipped to Italy from America, and comes back in bottles labeled "olive oil." These facts have an important bearing upon the question of future profits from olive groves in California.
Albert Sutliffe wrote lately on that subject from Florence: "Any one who has eaten the olive oil commonly used in America, and has also tasted it pure at the refineries of Nice, Lucca or Florence, can easily understand the prejudice against it. The two articles are entirely different. The former, too often suggests whale or lard oil in some state of impurity or rancidness, while even the most prejudiced person tasting the latter at the place of production finds it pleasant. Even the most fastidious or uninitiated taste would not object to a beefsteak cooked in the best of Lucca oil, which he would hardly be able to distinguish from the finest butter."
These adulterations are not confined to the shipping points of Europe, they also take place at many receiving centers where they dilute still more what has already been quite liberally adulterated. In reference to this, we just read in the San Francisco Evening Bulletin of May 29, 1887: "The 'Camera de Commercio Italiano,' an organization of local Italian merchants formed to promote trade between California and Italy, will hold a meeting Saturday at the rooms on Battery street, opposite the Postoffice. Various matters of business will come up; among other things, that of the recently discovered adulteration in this country of certain Italian products. It has been learned that some local dealers of more enterprise than integrity, have been importing olive oil and diluting it here with a cotton seed product. The bottles were then recorked and resealed, and the expanded oil sold at trade prices as the genuine Italian product." At said meeting a resolution was adopted instructing the Secretary to notify Secretary Rubini that the chamber would do what it could in suppressing the evil, but that it was almost powerless to act for the reason that no California law prohibited the importation of oil, no matter what its character may be. This memorial, forwarded to the Italian Government, requested also that no adulterated goods be allowed to be shipped from Italian ports to this country.
I will then say in conclusion of this chapter: let us select such varieties of the olive tree as are universally acknowledged to rank among the best, both for pickling and oil-making; let us choose only temperate regions, so that our trees cannot be affected either by too much heat or too severe cold weather; let us plant them on the dry and sunny slopes of our hills where quicker production and finer quality will be obtained; and when, as a natural result, we make and serve to consumers a pure oil we can compete successfully with the foreign adulterations in all the markets of the world, if we can ever begin to supply our immense home consumption, which alone will absorb all that we can produce for many generations to come.