Page:A Practical Treatise on Olive Culture, Oil Making and Olive Pickling.djvu/53

 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