Page:A Practical Treatise on Olive Culture, Oil Making and Olive Pickling.djvu/75

 per acre until the trees come to bearing, in four or five years after planting the rooted cutting.

The machinery and appliances for pickling the olive and for making the oil are of an extreme simplicity. Both operations can be done in a very short time and they are so easy that no farmer, with ordinary cleanliness and care, can fail in turning out as good a product as obtained anywhere else; while this is far from being the case in wine making which requires special knowledge, as well as long and tedious care before the product is in a satisfactory condition to be sold.

The gathering of the olive berries can be done gradually from November until March. By allowing them to dry in the barn, weeks can elapse before extracting the oil from them, which will enable a farmer to attend meantime to more pressing work; but, if he so prefers, he can do it at once. Moreover if he has no oil crusher and press, he can ship his olives in sacks or boxes to any distance at a moderate rate of transportation, considering the value of the product under a small volume, thus avoiding the misfortune of becoming the prey of local monopolies. How different it is with grapes! They are to be picked hastily when ripe; they must be pressed within a very short time; they cannot remain long, nor travel far without experiencing damage and loss; and if they are to be shipped to some distance to avoid the tyranny of monopolies, or