Page:The Olive Its Culture in Theory and Practice.djvu/23

Rh The olive grower of California has sixty-five millions of countrymen among whom to market his product. Now if we assume that the consumption may reach only one pound per head annually, it would require ten million gallons to satisfy the demand for the United States alone, or, with an acreage of fifty trees, olive groves covering two hundred thousand acres. Our people have yet to learn to appreciate the olive. It needs no pushing, it will make its way on its merits. It is sufficient to say that the public were willing to pay during all last season fifteen dollars a gallon for an oil they knew to be pure. But increased production will lower the price, and a lower price will stimulate the consumption.

Olive oil has always been greatly esteemed for the beneficial effects derived from its use by the human body. This reputation is sustained by the experience of mankind from the beginning of history. Of late years it has been discovered that it contains cholesterin, which was only known to exist in the animal body, where it forms an important constituent of the gall, the blood corpuscles, and the nerve substance.