Page:The Olive Its Culture in Theory and Practice.djvu/156



"L'uliva quanto piu pende piu rende."

Dr. A. Funaro, of Pisa, from some very interesting experiments conducted by him at that place in 1878, has been able to prove that the nut is the first part of the fruit to form. The olives experimented upon were gathered from a farm near Pisa, at intervals from July 10th to February 25th, and carefully analyzed, with the object of studying the formation of the fatty material. This fact had already been stated by Prof. A. Roussille.

On the 25th of July the nut itself was not perfectly formed, but on the 10th of August it was quite perfect, though tender, and could not be detached from the fleshy part.

On the 25th of September it had reached its full development. Then commenced the increase of size and weight of the pulp, and the rapid increase of the fatty matter, while the quantity of water diminished slowly, oscillating according to the atmospheric conditions of the days when the olives were gathered. These, after the 10th of August, increased gradually until the 10th of September. Between the 10th and 25th of September they almost doubled in weight. One hundred olives which on September 10th weighed 75.94 grams, on the 25th of that month weighed 144.22 grams. After this period the increase of weight was gradual, but only slight, up to the 25th of October; after that date a progressive and slow decrease set in.