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Show The American Olive. Th growth of tho olive is to be, it seems to me, one of the loading and most permanent industries of southern California. It will give us, what it is nearly impossible to buy now, pure olive oil, in place of the cotton-seed and lard mixture in general use. It is a most wholesome and palatable nrti-clo nrti-clo of food. Those whose chief experience expe-rience of the olive is the largo, coarse, and not agreeable Spanish variety, used only as an appetizer, know little of tho value of the best varieties as food, nutritious as meat, and always delicious. Good bread and a dish of pickled olives make an excellent meal. The sort known as the Mission olive, plauted by the Franciscans a eentury ago. is generally grown now, and the best fruit is from the older trees. The most successful attempts in cultivating tho olivo and putting it on the market have been made by Mr. F. A. Kimball, of National City, and Mr. Ellwood Cooper, of Santa Barbara. The experiments ex-periments have gone far enough to show that tho industry is very remunerative. remu-nerative. Tho best olive oil I have ever tasted anywhere is that produced roni the Cooper and tho Kimball orchards; but uot enough is produced to supply the local demand. Mr. Cooper has written a careful treatise on olive culture, which will be of great service to all growers. The art of pickling is uot yet mastered, and perhaps some other variety will be preferred to the Old Mission for the table. A mature olive grove in good bearing is a fortune. I feel sure that within twenty-live years this will bo ono of tho most profitable industries of California, and that the demand for pure oil and edible fruit in the United States will drive out tho adulterated and inferior present commercial products, prod-ucts, lint California can easily ruin its reputation by adopting the European Euro-pean systems of adulteration. Charles Vuti'ey Ir'unicr, in Harper's Magazine. |