Page:A Practical Treatise on Olive Culture, Oil Making and Olive Pickling.djvu/76

 because there is no wine cellar near by, tbe cost of freight, drayage, brokerage, short weight, added to the cost of picking and delivering absorb a good part of the value of a product which sold last year at an average of $20 per ton, and which is most likely to sell much cheaper this coming season.

On an equal acreage, and when from eight to ten years old, the product of an olive grove will be worth several times that of a vineyard; and under the same volume the oil will be ten times more valuable than wine, so that it can be delivered in a more economical manner. While with a four horse team a farmer will deliver about 600 gallons of wine per trip, representing a maximum value of $100, he can, with the same team, deliver olive oil to a value of over $1000. What an economy this represents.

Much less cooperage, too, will be required. Whereas, for a hundred acres vineyard, room for 50,000 gallons might be calculated upon, 25,000 gallons will be all that can be expected from a similar acreage of olive trees, and as tin tanks and cans are mostly used, it will cost less. Moreover, oil can be made from November to March, and sold shortly afterward to the merchant, who will clarify it himself, so that by spreading over the time of making it, a maximum of 8,000 or 10,000 gallons of such packages will be sufficient. And all this can be done and stored in wooden buildings of very moderate size,