Page:The Olive Its Culture in Theory and Practice.djvu/164

134 The temptation to do this is great. It is evident that it is the cheapest way to get in the crop. But it is penny wise and pound foolish, If the crop of that year was the only one to deal with, well and good, there would be nothing to say against it, but the beating makes it impossible for the tree to bear the following year.

Hence it is plain that instead of being the cheapest mode of dealing with a crop, it is the most expensive as it is one of the direct causes of the olive bearing only every other year.

Each leaf shelters a bud which in time will be a twig or a blossom, if the leaf is knocked off the bud is killed, for its life depends upon the preservation of the leaf, and these leaves are more plentiful on the fruit branches than any other part of the tree. No matter how carefully the fruit be poled off, damage is sure to be done. Olives should be picked by hand from ladders.

If the berries are to be immediately crushed they may be thrown upon a canvas cover placed about the tree to receive them; but if they have to be carried any distance or kept for any length of time it will be best to handle them more carefully, as the bruises received on being thrown to the ground cause an early decay of the berry to the great detriment of the oil.

Different kinds of olives ripen at different periods and in order to make the best oil the berry should be gathered at the exact period of its maturity and at no other. So a very large olive orchard should be made up of different varieties coming in at successive periods, but a small one should consist of only one variety.

Soil and locality also affect the quality of the oil. The same olive on different soils or on a hill and on a plain will give a very different oil; and these should not be mixed, but made separately, or the quality of the whole may suffer.

The olive takes on four changes of color, although all the varieties do not strictly follow this rule: Green is followed by yellow, then a reddish purple which is succeeded by a wine red and lastly a black red or glossy black. If the berry is left upon the tree the