Gallons. | ||
| 1880 | ........ | 86,000,000 |
| 1881 | ........ | 34,600,000 |
| 1882 | ........ | 56,800,000 |
| 1883 | ........ | 41,300,000 |
| 1884 | ........ | 46,800,000 |
| 1885 | ........ | 47,000,000 |
| 1886 | ........ | 64,300,000 |
which would average about fifty-four million gallons annually. The export has been steady for the last ten years at about twenty million gallons. The population is twenty-eight millions. The area of the whole kingdom is one hundred and twelve thousand square miles, and that devoted to olives is two million two hundred and fifty thousand acres.
For Spain it is much more difficult to reach the truth. The population of Spain and Portugal is twenty-two millions, the surface area of the two kingdoms is two hundred and thirty-three thousand square miles, more than double that of Italy, and five million acres are given up to olive culture. The very reasonable estimate of Senor Tablada would give a product of one hundred and fifty million gallons of oil for the annual yield of Spain. The export is only ten million gallons. The explanation of this is that the consumption of oil and olives is very much greater there than anywhere else in the world, and also that Spanish oil is made in such a slovenly way that the world will not take it, and it must be consumed at home. Olives are often piled up in a heap and left to rot for six months or a year before being pressed. This suits the national taste; they like strong or rancid oil, but it is not a marketable product and has to be consumed at home.
France has a population of thirty-eight millions, an area of two hundred and four thousand square miles, of which only three hundred and seventy-five thousand acres are given up to the cultivation of the olive. The annual product of oil is only nine million gallons.
