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as THE HISTORY AND CULTURE OF THE OLIVE. =x

OF THE

STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY

OF SOUTH CAROLINA,

DELIVERED

= IN THE HALL OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

NOVEMBER 26TH, 1846.

BY

THE HON. MITCHEL KING.

PUBLISHED BY THR SOCIETY,

IL

COLUMBIA,,S. C.
I. C. MORGAN, PRINTER.

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THE HISTORY AND CULTURE OF THE OLIVE.

ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS

OF THE

STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY
OF SOUTH CAROLINA,

DELIVERED

IN THE HALL OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

NOVEMBER 26TH, 1846.

BY

Pay
THE HON. MITCHEL KING.
PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY.

COLUMBIA, 8. C.
I. C. MORGAN, PRINTER.

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ADDRESS.

Gentlemen of the State Agricultural Society of South Carolina :

At the last anniversary of this Society, the Honorable Jonn C. Catnour
was elected by you, unanimously, to make the Address, which, according to
the Constitution and usages of the Society, should yearly at this time be
delivered before you. After this appointment, at the earnest solicitation of
some of our most distinguished citizens and in obedience to the voice of the
State, he was called from his retirement to take a place again im our public
councils, and to give the country the benefit of his large experience his
mature wisdom and well earned influence. A crisis existed in our national
affairs. Not only were our friendly relations with our sister Republic of
Mexico entirely interrupted, but we seemed on the very verge of a war with
one of the most powerful empires of the old world,—with which we have
the most numerous and intimate commercial relations,—and questions of
constitutional law were in agitation, of the deepest interest, affecting our
whole internal policy, and on whose wise and happy solution the very exis-
tence of our Union may depend. In this emergency, not our State alone
but all intelligent and impartial men, from Maine to Texas, from the Rock
Mountains to the Atlantic, looked to Mr. Calhoun. Nobly has he fulfilled the
high expectations formed of him. The war with Mexico has added another
page of success and honor to the history of our gallant army, and has taught
to the nations jealous of us a lesson that will not soon be forgotten. But it
has already caused a large amount of individual suffering—must involve a
greatly increased taxation, with all its attendant evils, and can probably add
little to our permanent prosperity. Had his advice been followed witha little
more of prudence and foresight on her part, and of forbearance and kindness
on ours, this war might, perhaps, have been avoided. Under Providence, he
has been mainly instrumental in preventing a war with England, and in pro-
moting the honorable adjustment of the only matter that remained between
us and that country, likely to bring us into collision. His Report of the
26th of June last has shed on the vexed question of Internal Improvements
a flood of light, which, whatever may be the ultimate result, will aid to il-
lumine and guide the public mind to a safe and just determination. Blessed
are the peace makers. Blessed are they who with powerful intellect and
profound sagacity and unswerving integrity, establish on a sure foundation
the principles of justice,—principles that approve themselves to the general
understanding, and promote the best interests of society. Such men are
public benefactors. ‘The country which possesses them may well be proud of
them and owes them a debt of gratitude which it should delight to ac-
knowledge, and if possible, to repay.

The duties to which Mr. Catuoun was called by his last election to the
Senate of the United States obliged him to decline the office to which you

—— ~ =

4

had appointed hin—and your Executive Committee did me the honor to
name me to it. Though you will regret the loss of the pleasure and profit
which his familiar and extensive knowledge of Agriculture would no doubt
have communicated to this office, you will not regret that he was prevented
from affording them by his devotion to the service of the country, and by
his availing efforts for the attainment of even higher objects. Yet, you
gentlemen and your Executive Committee will, I trust, pardon me when I,
in all sincerity, declare my unfeigned regret, that their selection had not
fallen on some one more competent, more conversant with the great objects
of the Society, and who could have laid before you facts and views within
his own observation, worthy of being remembered and improved,—who could
have added from his own experiments something to our information in Ag-
ricultural science, and made perhaps, in one department of it or another, a
step in advance of our present progress. Very deeply do I feel my own
unfitness to do justice to the office to which I have been appointed—yet, I
did not feel myself at liberty to decline it,—I felt that you, gentlemen, had
the right to call on me, and that it was my duty to obey the call, how much
soever I might distrust my own competency to meet it. The engrossing
studies and practice of a jealous profession, have left me little leisure or op-
portunity for Agricultural inquiries. Did the ability and knowledge fitting
for the occasion at all equal the earnest will, then I might hope to be able
to submit to you something which you would not willingly forget.

From the earliest accounts, traditional, or historical, of the human family,
the culture of the ground has been considered the most important employ-
ment. ‘The man who first planted the grain in the soil, with the view of
producing a crop, was the greatest benefactor ever given to the world. The
unknown discoverer, if he were a mere man, was deified by the ancients,—
it may have been taught to him by the Author of his being, for sacred history
tells us that God, when he had made man, “took him and put him into the
Garden of Eden, to dress (to work) it and to keep it.” This art laid the
deep foundation of human improvement. In the works and days of Hesiod,
it is the subject of one of the oldest poems, that amid the wreck of ages have
reached us. It occupied the mind of a Xenophon and an Aristotle,—and
Cato the Censor, the Cato Major of Cicero, has bequeathed to us the lessons
of his experience in it. The treatises of distinguished men on this subject,
im ancient medieval and more modern times, are numerous,—but it is wor-
thy of observation, that though it was studied and cultivated by individuals, no
combined or continued effort for its improvement seems to have been made
until about the middle of the last century—and it was yet later before any
of the other sciences were invoked to the assistance of this the mistress and
support of all the sciences. Columella, who was contemporary with our
Saviour, and who has written the best work on Husbandry which has come
down to us from antiquity, complains of this neglect, and tells us that while
every other profession has its teachers, * “Sola res rustica, que sine dubita-
tione proxima et quasi consanguinea Sapientie est, tam discentibus egeat
quam magistris,’—and what is even more remarkable, while there were
schools for Cooks and Head-dressers and Hair-dressers, “ contemptissimo-
rum vitiorum officine.”—A gricolationis neque doctores qui se profiterentur
—nheque discipulos cognovi.”

* Columelle, L. 1, Pref.

5

The causes of this just complaint continued—indeed, rather increased—
for many centuries. Agriculture was probably more highly valued, and
more carefully studied, and better understood, im the days of Theophrastus
and Varro and Virgil, than in those of Corneille and Shakspeare and
Bacon and Newton. Colleges were founded, and professorships endowed,
and societies formed, for the cultivation of almost every other branch of
knowledge. Agriculture had no such assistance. ‘The revival of letters—
the discovery of printing—the Reformation, which gave such an impulse to
the human mind, and to the progress of society, did scarcely any thing for
husbandry. The Agriculturist had no assistance from seminaries of learn-
ing or of science, and very little from the observations or experiments of
his contemporaries. He was left to gather his information from the solitary
writers on the subject who had gone before him—from the traditionary
knowledge which attends every profession, and from the lessons of his own
experience. Within the last century, great and most favorable changes
have been effected. ‘The causes of Columella’s complaint have been now,
and we trust, forever removed. ‘These changes may well be considered as
among the best evidences of the onward and upward progress of society.
Aoriculture has taken the place, and occupies the attention to which it is
entitled. Associations have been formed to collect information, to encour-
age experiments, and to promote improvement. Professorships in it have
been established in many of the great universities of Europe. The rich
and the noble, the learned and the wise, of every civilized country, are
using their efforts to advance and raise it, in all its branches, to the highest
degree of excellence.

It must be confessed that, though since the first settlement of the country
agriculture has been by far our most important interest, and the main, I
might almost say, the only source of our wealth and prosperity, it has
scarcely until recently, received among us that general and united encour-
agement to which it is entitled. It is true, that the Agricultural Society of
South Carolina, begun in 1784, was organized on the 24th of August, 1785,
and Thomas Heyward, Junior, one of the signers of the Declaration of Inde-
pendence, and the late venerable Thomas Pinckney, were elected President
and Vice-President. Gentlemen of distinction in other States, and among
them Mr. Jefferson, then (in 1785) Minister to France, were elected mem-
bers. Many of the members have, from time to time, communicated the
results of their experience to the publications of the day, but these com-
munications were not then collected into any permanent work. ‘The publi-
cations in which they appeared, have most of them passed away, and though
they may have added to what may be called the traditional knowledge of
the planter, they generally cannot now be found and consulted for more ac-
curate information. ‘The money raised among the members was liberally
expended in promoting the improvement of stock, importing new objects of
agricultural industry, and endeavoring to introduce a better system of hus-
bandry and new productive staples into the country. But the results of
these efforts were not so successful as they certainly deserved to be. The
introduction of the tide swamp culture of rice by Gideon Dupont, about
1783, and the extensive production of cotton as an export, nearly at the
same time, were due rather to individual skill and enterprise, than to any
public encouragement. But the spirit of enquiry and improvement in-
creased. ‘The establishment of the South Carolina College, sustained and

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6

fostered this spirit. The light of learning and science, which has shone,
and shines there with so much lustre, has cheered and illumined—may it
ever continue to cheer and illumine—every corner of our land. The labors
of a free press, and the diffusion of periodical literature, have carried in-
formation to every fire-side. Agricultural Societies have been formed im
different parts of the State, and this Society, combining them all in united
and continued effort has, we trust, commenced a career of usefulness that
will lead to the most favorable results. 'The valuable addresses which have
been delivered before you, the reports made to you, and the memoirs col-
lected by you and published for general use, and placed within the reach of
every planter, will be of lasting benefit. And the State, by the persevering,
untiring efforts of gentlemen of this Society, has been induced to direct the
Geological and Agricultural Survey, which, in the able hands by which it
has been conducted, has already afforded much invaluable information, and
it is earnestly hoped, will be continued until all the objects contemplated
by it be fully attained.

It has been often remarked, that no kind of knowledge travels so slowly
as Agricultural knowledge. While one county in England continued to
plow with a man and a driver, and four or five -horses, another at a short
distance from it had, for years, plowed and done better work with one man
and two horses. While one country has invented thrashing mills, and
causes water or steam to thrash out the crop, another still employs the un-
muzzled ox that treadeth out the corn. While the rice of Carolina was
raised on the margins of rivers, within the ebbing and flowing of the tide,
and pounded and prepared by machinery to bring the highest price in the
market of the world, the Hindoo, under the control and direction of the
intelligent Englishman, was content to pursue his old modes of culture and
preparation.

Your anniversaries are of the greatest importance. They bring gentle-
men together who would otherwise seldom meet. The Reports of your
Committees, the discussion of the experiments of the past year, the exami-
nation of proposed improvements or alleged discoveries keep alive and
stimulate the spirit of enquiry in which they originated. They promote
the general diffusion of agricultural knowledge. ‘The information of one
becomes the information of all, and its advantages are spread throughout
the country.

It is of great importance to the practical planter that he should be able
to test the accuracy and value of his opinions by comparing them with the
opinions of others, equally, or perhaps more observant and skilful than himself.
Nothing stimulates the mind more than the collision of sentiments, and the
moment of animated discussion often suggests new and enlarged ideas and
views, which calm reflection or even severe study had failed to afford. Al-
most every year improvements are made in some department or another of
rural economy. Few persons think of communicating them through the
medium of the press, and even if they were so communicated, they might
escape notice, or attract little attention. Here they could not fail to receive
the consideration to which they might be entitled. A spark falling on fitting
materials, kindles a flame—a small seed falling into a fertile soil, may pro-
duce a great tree—an opinion entertained doubtingly, on being examined,
may lead to important consequences. Every well weighed opinion on
Agricultural matters submitted here, should find its place in the records of

;

the Society—it may at the time be received with little favor, and yet may
be pregnant with good—future reflection or the view taken of it or sug-
gested by it to a kindred mind, may raise it to importance and give it activity.

{t is not alone the free interchange and discussion of opinions that should
distinguish our anniversaries; we ought to embody in our proceedings an
account of every remarkable observation or experiment in agriculture, which
during the previous year has been made among us. If these observations
and experiments be not recorded, the memory of them in a short time passes
away—our successors derive no benefit from them, and are left to pursue
the same course which we have pursued, and to learn over again for them-
selves what we might well have taught them.

New modes of cultivation, of draining, of manuring, are constantly pre-
senting themselves. New agents of fertility are discovered and applied, not
only among ourselves, but in different parts of the world. It would be
expensive and hazardous for the individual to test by experiments the suc-
cess of these novelties, and to ascertain how far they may be adapted to our
soil and climate. When such matters are brought under the notice of our
Society, how easy and how important would it be to appoint special commit-
tees of our body to examine each particular subject of inquiry—to experi-
ment upon it, if experiment be necessary, and to report the results to the
next meeting of the Society. The expense and attention and skill of one
member would thus inure to the benefit of all, not only of the Society but
of the State. The time and talents of each committee being particularly
called to the subject submitted to it, would secure greater care, and stimulate
to more accurate observation and fuller details than can be ordinarily ex-
pected from solitary and unsolicited enquiry. We have recently had the
highest evidence of the accuracy and importance of the information of a
new process of manuring, from the skill and experience of a distinguished
member of the Society, who has given to a kindred association the results of
his intelligent and continued experiments in marling,—and has put that
information in the most appropriate shape to be communicated to every
planter, and preserved for our successors.

Matters of enquiry on subjects connected with agriculture are absolutely
as boundless as the physical history of the earth which we inhabit. Every
year is making new discoveries in the diversities of soil—of the elements
of which it is composed—of the quantity of the different parts which enter
into the composition—of the growth of plants—of what they owe to the air
or to the elements of which it is formed—to the light or to its elements—to
electricity, and all the agencies in vegetation by which, in the wonderful
laboratory of nature, the grain produces fruit after its kind, and the small
seed becomes a great tree. . SUE f

There are some departments in natural history which are too apt to be
looked upon with indifference, even by the considerate, and treated with
ridicule by the would-be wit, that are yet of the utmost importance to the
husbandman. Our Cotton fields are exposed to many enemies—at one time
a small catterpillar, that in summer changes into a pretty moth,—at another
time a large kind of catterpillar, called the army worm, which produces a
butterfly,—at another time an insect called the cut-worm or the cotton louse,
attack the cotton plant and blast the hopes of the planter. The Hessian
fly lays waste the wheat field,—the locust that has been buried in the ground,
as it is said for years, issues from its larva, a winged plague, and spreads

8

devastation and ruin in its track. ‘These, and insects like these, are undoubt-
edly governed in their production and ravages and whole being, by laws
which are little understood. If we knew these laws, we might be able
effectually to check or even to destroy their production—and thence either
greatly lessen or entirely prevent their ravages. ‘The accumulation of facts
respecting these several destroyers, brought together and reported at our
anniversaries, would furnish materials from which science might ascertain
these laws. It will be for the Society to determine how far they will direct
attention to the collection of such facts.

To increase the number of our Staples is a matter of the deepest impor-
tance, not only to every Planter, but to every citizen of the State. We
have hitherto been, and must probably continue to be, an Agricultural peo-
ple. Our Rice and our Cotton have for many years been the chief sources,
{ might almost say, the only sources of our income, and have furnished a very
iarge proportion of the exports of the whole Union. They have been equiv-
alent to gold and silver in the payment of imported commodities. ‘They
have maintained our credit in the foreign market, and prevented the bal-
ance of trade from being against us. In this traffic, cotton has been by far
the most important article.

The supply and demand of this staple, since its first successful production
here, have increased in a ratio which the greatest sagacity could scarcely
have anticipated. But, though the demand has generally corresponded
with the supply, and maintained the article at a remunerating price to the
producer, the continual opening of fresh land to the South and West, in
many instances lands more fertile than ours, and the almost unlimited ex-
tent of such lands, andthe greater crops with equal or even less labor made
on them, enabling the producer to undersell us, and yet to realize a large
profit on his capital, have all conspired to cause a considerable fall in pri-
ces, and recently they have failed with us to give a fair return on the labor
and capital employed in raising the article. 'T’o suchan extent has this been
the case, that as the price of a commodity always depends in the first in-
stance on the demand and the supply, and as the demand is not likely to
decrease, it has been seriously proposed to plant less cotton and more of
some other articles, that the supply of cotton being considerably diminished,
the price might be raised, and probably more obtained for a small than could
have been obtained for a large crop. Even if this proposal carried into ef-
fect were certain of success, it would only raise prices for a limited time,
and would tend to stimulate the production of the article in other countries.

The profits of capital and the wages of labor have a constant tendency
to equalize themselves throughout the commercial world. But even among
ourselves we can procure no combined effort for this object, and the culture
of cotton will be stimulated to its maximum, until some other crop is in-
troduced, which will yield a better return. In this culture, then, it is greatly
to be feared, that we may not be long able to rival our brethren of the
South-Western States. Labor will go where it receives the highest reward.
The Planter who can raise 6 or 7 bales of cotton to the hand, can afford
to give a higher price for the hand, than the Planter who can only raise 4
or 5 bales. Any demand for the article, beyond what the existing supply
can meet, would, of course, raise the price. Should the alleged discovery
of Gun-Cotton, accomplish all that has been claimed for it, and should that
preparation supercede the use of Gunpowder, and lead to the annual con-

9

sumption of 3 or 400,000 bales, beyond the present demand, the price would
undoubtedly rise, and would yield a better return to the Planter. But our
capacity to raise Cotton is so great—we have such bodies of land fit for the
culture—that whenever it produced a larger return than the average pro-
duction on capital, the production of it would be so stimulated, as very speed-
ily to equalize the supply to the demand, and to bring back a reduction of
price, and make us again unable to compete, successfully, with the South-
Western Planter. It would, therefore, be of the utmost importance to this
State, if a new staple could be introduced, that would afford a fair remu-
nerating return to the labor bestowed in raising it.

From the very first settlement of the country, it has been considered by,
I believe, very intelligent men, who have examined the subject, as well cal-
culated for the successful cultivation of the Olive. Some efforts have been
made to introduce it. These efforts have been unsuccessful, but they have
been very imperfect. They were conducted on no regular, understanding
system. We had little or no skill in the culture, and we did not seek, or
did not procure that skill where it could be obtained. The Olive-tree, if
raised from the seed, is slow in coming to maturity—is slow in yielding a
return. We have not had the patience to persevere. We have been in
haste to receive the reward of our labor. We have been sanguine in be-
ginning our efforts—but we have been too easily discouraged by difficul-
ties; and disappointments, probably unexpected, have caused us to abandon
a culture, which, it is earnestly believed, skill and perseverance would have
crowned with success. This is a subject of so much interest, and may, by
possibility, lead to results of such importance, that I pray the permission of
the Society to bring it fully before them.

From the first settlement of Carolina, it has been considered well adapt-
ed to the culture of the Olive. In one of the earliest accounts of the coun-
try, by Richard Blome,* published in 1678, it is said that the Olive trees
brought from Portugal and the Bermudas, increase exceedingly, and will
produce a quantity of oil. And Samuel Wilson, who had been for years
agent of the Lords Proprietors, repeats nearly the language of Blome, and
adds, “the inhabitants take great care to propagate, more so, that in all prob-
ability, it will be an excellent oily country.” When the charter of Carolina,
of 1663, was granted, the other proprietors left the chief management of
the colony, to the very able and unscrupulous Lord Shaftsbury. It is well
known, that at his request, Mr. Locke drew up his celebrated Fundamental
Constitution of Carolina—but it is not as generally known, that for a num-
ber of years he carried on an active correspondence with the colony, in
which he took the deepest interest, and it is highly probable, that in 1679,
he procured Mr. Locke to write his judicious observations on Wine, Olives,
Fruit and Silk, with a special view to South Carolina. The troubles in
which Shaftsbury was soon after involved, and his death, in January, 1683,
no doubt prevented these observations from being published until a long
time after. In the description of Carolina of 1682, by T. A. Gentleman,
we are told, “the Olive trees thrive there very well. Mr. James Colleton,
brother to Sir Peter, one of the Honorable Proprietors, brought an Olive
stick from Fayal, cut off at both ends, to Carolina, which, put into the
ground, grew and prospered exceedingly. If the Olive be well improved,

* Blome, 207. + 2 Car, Col, 65.

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10

there may be expected from thence perhaps as good oil as any the world
yields.” Gov. Glen tells us, that in the intense frost of the 7th January,
1747, probably the severest ever felt in Carolina, he lost an Olive tree of
such prodigious size, that he thought it proof against all weathers. It was
near a foot and a half diameter in the trunk, and bore many bushels of ex-
cellent Olives every year.” We may conclude, that this was probably one
of the first Olives planted in the country, and could scarcely have been less
than 60 or 70 years old. Even this terrible Winter would seem not to have
killed all our Olive trees, for Dr. Milligan, in Charleston, in 1768, says:
“We have plenty of Olives.”

When Mr. Jefferson, as has been stated, was in 1785, elected a Member
of the Agricultural Society of South Carolina, he, with his characteristic
zeal, endeavored to promote the objects of the Society. In May, 1786, he
sent them ‘some seeds of a grass found to be very useful in the South of
Europe.” He hoped it might be equally useful here; and in the Fall he
expected to send them some acorns of the Cork trees, which he was persua-
ded would succeed with us. On the 30th of July, 1787, he writes to them,
through his correspondent, William Drayton, the father of the late Honora-
ble William Drayton, a letter, which well deserves perusal, but which, on
the subject of the Olive, is especially interesting. While I would venture
to commend the whole letter to your attention, some of his observations on
the Olive, I beg now to submit to you.t “The Olive isa tree the least
known in America, and yet the most worthy of being known. Of all gifts
of Heaven to man, it is next to the most precious, if it be not the most pre-
cious. Perhaps it may claim a preference even to bread; because there is
such an infinitude of vegetables, which it renders a proper and comfortable
nourishment. In passing the Alps, at the Col de Tende, where there are
mere masses of rock, wherever there happens to be a little soil, there are a
number of Olive trees, and a village supported by them. ‘Take away these
trees, and the same ground, in Corn, would not support a single family —
A pound of Oil, which can be bought for three or four pence sterling, is
equivalent to many pounds of flesh, by the quantity of vegetables it will
prepare, and render fit and comfortable food. Without this tree, the coun-
try of Provence and territory of Genoa, would not support one-half, per-
haps not one-third, their present inhabitants. The nature of the soil is of
little consequence, if it be dry. The trees are planted from fifteen to twen-
ty feet apart, and when tolerably good, will yield fifteen or twenty pounds
of oil yearly, one with another. There are trees which yield much more.
They begin to render good crops at twenty years old, and last till killed by
cold, which happens at some time or other, even in their best positions in
France. But they put out again from their roots. In Italy, I am told,
they have trees of two hundred years old. They afford an easy but con-
stant employment throughout the year, and require so little nourishment,
that if the soil be fit for any other production, it may be cultivated among
the Olive trees, without injuring them,” and immediately after, he says,—
“ wherever the Orange will stand at all, the Olive willstand well, being a
harder tree.” The Honorable William Johnson, in an Agricultural essay,
written by him, in 1815, in which he quotes this very passage from Mr.
Jefferson, corrects an error into which he has fallen, of a discouraging ten-

* 2Jef, W. 14; Ib. 193, + 2Jef, W. 197.

iI

dency, where he says, “the tree begins to render good crops at twenty years
old.” Judge Johnson* remarks, “this may be true, when raised from the
seed ; and it may be also true, that they are continually improving to that
age; but I have eaten olives from my own trees in six years after I com-
menced to propagate them, and by raising them from scions, cuttings and
root-grafting, the production is materially expedited.” It is unquestionable
that the Olive flourished in this State from an early period of our history.—
‘The speaker has seen trees in Charleston, bearing, very abundantly, a plump,
large fruit, and they looked as vigorous and thrifty as any of our forest
trees. No persevering, continued effort has, it is believed, been made to
raise them as producing a permanent staple of trade. We have been dis-
couraged, it is to be feared, by difficulties and disappointments which some-
times occur to them in the countries where they are cultivated with the
greatest success.

Ramsey tells us that they have “been brought from abroad, and natur-
alized, and their fruit prepared and preserved equal to imported ones.”

Probably the only obstacle to the successful cultivation of the Olive among
us, is the occasional severity of our Winter climate. It does not alone de-
pend upon the latitude in which we are situated. It is affected by our prox-
imity to the sea. The Gulf-stream, that passes along our coast, is from 5 to
10 degrees warmer than the adjacent ocean, and influences our temperature.
The Northern limit in Europe to the culture of the Olive, ranges, it is said,
between latitude 36° and 44° 5’. It succeeds wherever with a mean
annual temperature from 66° to 58° F., that of Summer is not below 71°,
nor that of the coldest month below 42°. [am not aware that the average
temperature of our climate, for the Summer and Winter months, has ever
been accurately ascertained. But Iam persuaded that in both seasons, it
must considerably exceed the height stated to be requisite, and although the
authority quoted considers that this temperature excludes America beyond
34°, that would still leave the larger portion of our State adapted to this
culture. There are good reasons to think that the North limit of the culture
on the Atlantic sea-board of our continent, will be found to be considerably
higher. The celebrated Arthur Young, who did so much to promote the
progress of Agriculture, published a map of France, in which he represent-
ed, by three nearly parallel lines, the Northern limits of the Olive, the
Maize and the Vine., The Olive grows in great luxuriance in Provence
and Languedoc, which lie to the North of 43°; and the average tempera-
ture of these provinces can scarcely be so propitious as that of South Caro-
lina, which lies in so much lower a latitude. Mr. Jefferson saw the Olive
growing at Col de Tende. Millar says, that with ease, they are sometimes
raised in England, and produce fruit in the open air, though certainly the
average heat of an English Summer, is below 71°, and the average cold
of the coldest month in Winter, much below 42°. But we have still high-
er assurance that the Olive will flourish in our State. The Olive, accor-
ding to the Linnean system, is a genus of tree belonging to the diandria
monogynia class of plants. It is usually divided into three species, but
nine species are mentioned by writers, and the varieties are very numerous.
The very distinguished French botanist, A. P. de Candolle, says, “ however
heterogeneous the Olive tribe may appear as at present limited, it is remark-

* Johnson’s Essays, 129.

12

able that the species will all graft on each other, a fact which demonstrates
the analogy of their juices, and their fibres; the lilac will graft upon the
ash, the chronauthus and the fontanesia, and I have succeeded in making
the Persian lilac live ten years on the phyllirea latifolia. The Olive will
take on the phyllirea, and even on the ash,” and Lindley, the Professor of
Botany in the University College, London, quotes and adopts this opinion.
The Olea Americana is a native of South Carolina—a small beautiful
tree,” says the venerated Stephen Elliott, “of from twelve to twenty feet
high. It grows in rich light soils along the sea coast of Carolina and
Georgia, and is rarely found sixty miles from the ocean.” Various species
of the ash abound throughout the country. De Candolle’s statement of the
facility with which the Olive will graft on every kindred tree, is confirmed
by the high authority of Palladius. In his XIIth book de Insitione of his
De Re Rustica, speaking of the Olive, he says:

Robora palladii decorat silvestria rami
Nobilitat partus bacca superba feros,
Fecundat steriles pingues Oleaster Olivas
Et, qua non novit munera ferre docet.

Which may be thus imperfectly paraphrased :

Minerva’s bough graft on the forest tree,
And Olives teem where acorns wont to be;
The Oleaster sees new branches shoot
And wonders at her gift of precious fruit.

The graft usually partakes of the vigor of the stock upon which it is
grafted, and it seems reasonable to expect, that the fruit-bearing Olive, judi-
ciously grafted upon the Olea Americana, a native tree, or even on the ash,
would stand our climate. But the matter really appears settled by the tes-
timony of the writersthat I have quoted. Mr. Augustus L. Hillhouse, who
has furnished an interesting essay on the Olive, to the fourth half volume
of Michaux’ North American Sylva, indeed, says, (page 199,) “the Olives
near Charleston were rendered barren by the vernal frosts, which congealed
the young shoots.” If he means to inform his readers that after the tree
has blossomed, and before the fruit is formed, a sharp vernal frost will con-
geal (freeze), young buds and destroy them, he informs them of no more
than what might happen to any fruit-bearing tree ; but if he means that the
tree becomes barren, he has been much misinformed, and is undoubtedly
mistaken. ‘The loss of the crop for one year, by an early frost, if the tree
itself was uninjured, would more probably have the effect of invigorating
the tree, and of enabling it next year to produce a large crop. All the
authorities that speak from actual knowledge, assure us that the Olive
has thriven in our climate, and has produced abundantly. Dr. Ramsey,
who spent a long life of usefulness among us, tells us expressly, (2d His.
S. C., 303), “ Olives have been naturalized in Carolina to good purpose,
and stand all seasons.” He does not even seem to be aware that severe
frost here had ever destroyed any of the trees; and had he been aware
of that fact, he would unquestionably have recorded it; so that we may
fairly conclude no such frost happened in all histime. After much enquiry,
with an earnest desire to ascertain the very truth in this matter, I have been
able to find only two Winters since the first settlement of the country, which
have been so severe as seriously to injure the Olive. The first was the

L

13

Winter of 1746-47, described by Gov. Glen, and the other was the recent
Winter of 1835-36. And it is perhaps worthy of remark, that the 7th of
February, was the coldest day in the Winter of 1747, and the 6th and 8th
of February, were the coldest days in the Winter of 1835. Both certainly
did much injury to the Olive trees. But even in climates in which they
are successfully cultivated—and furnish the richest return from the soil—
where, as Mr. Hillhouse says, “ the produce of the soil is. said to be one-
third greater when planted with Olives, than under any other species of
culture,” they are liable to be destroyed by severe frosts. Even Provence
and Languedoc have sometimes Winters which this tree cannot resist.—
The author of an exceedingly interesting treatise on the Olive, published at
Montpelier, in 1784, speaking of such Winters, says: (271), I shall only
recal, here, that too memorable year, of which the melancholy remem-
brance yet fills the heart with terror. The Winter, the cruel Winter of
1709, was more fatal to that tree than to any other. It left no resource
to the afflicted husbandman. Many saw their Olives, split by the frost,
dry to the lowest root, and with no other consolation than the immense
quantity of fire-wood from them; and at pages 256 and 257 may be found
an account of a number of years in which the frost had done great injury
to the Olive, both in France and in Italy. The few trees that in Provence
and Languedoc (p. 296), survived the frost of 1709, were so much injured
by it, that for six or seven years they bore no fruit. But neither that fatal
year, nor the occasional recurrence of years similar to it, has compelled
the husbandmen of Provence and Languedoc to abandon in despair the
culture of their favorite tree—and Olive oil is still one of their most valua-
ble products. So far as regards climate, it is confidently believed, that
the climate of South Carolina—especially that of the sea board—is at
least equally favorable with that of Provence and Languedoc. Most prob-
ably it is more favorable. And with the example of these provinces of
France before us, we have the greatest encouragement to undertake the
extensive culture of this tree. Volney, whose observations on the climate
and soil of the United States, are distinguished for great accuracy and abil-
ity, says, from ‘Liancourt (Duke de la Rochefoucault), that the mercury
sometimes falls in Charleston to 4° [Raumur] below zero, and in one night
the earth freezes two inches deep—a degree of cold certainly very seldom
experienced in our lower country. And he remarks that this cireum-
stance prevents the orange from growing there in the open fields; but it
will not prevent the culture of the Olive, especially of the Olive of Cors-
ica, for in 1792, at Corté,* near the centre of that Island, among the
mountains, about 500 toises, (nearly 3250 English feet,) above the level of
the sea, he had seen the Olive prosper notwithstanding a frost 3° or 4°
below zero; and, he adds, that the Corsicans even allege that the snow ly-
ing eight days on the ground destroys the insects and assures a crop.
The accounts given of the longevity of this tree, are quite romantic ; nay,
some of them go far back into that period of history, considered as the pro-
per domain of fable,—the fabulous ages,—and some of them are associated
with events of so high a character, that though they can throw no light on
= culture of the tree, or its adaptation to our climate, they may interest the
ociety.

* Corte 42° 18’ 2 N.; about 10° farther North than Charleston.

14

Herodotus, in his Urania,* tells us that in the Temple of Erectheus, in
the Acropolis of Athens, is the olive which Minerva produced in her dispute
with Neptune for the honor of giving the name to that city. Cicere refers to
it in his De Legibus,t as the sempiterna olea, the everlasting olive; and
Pliny says, even in his day, Athenis quoque olea durare traditur in cer-
tamine edita a Minerva. It was regarded with so much veneration, that
when Epimenides had come from Crete to Athens, to purify the city, they
received him with the highest honors, and pressed many valuable presents
upon him. He would accept nothing but a branch of the sacred olive.—
And when Anthony went against the Parthians, he took with hima crown
from this tree. Indeed, such was the opinion of its durability, that Pliny
says, Argis olea etiam nunc durare dicitur ad quam Io in vaccam mutatam
Argus alligaverat—and he adds, without the qualification of dicitur, that the
wild olive from which Hercules was first crowned, was then at Olympia, and
religiously protected. Traditions of the longevity of the olive, are not con-
fined to the Greeks and Romans. ‘There are yet standing, or were a few
years ago, eight olive trees on the Mount of Olives, in the supposed site of
the Garden of Gethsemane, which the legends of the country allege, shaded
our Saviour when he was on earth, and dwelt among us, and which are still
pointed out by the monks to pilgrims, and are regarded with high venera-
tion. This tradition, even in these days of enquiry and scepticism, has not
been without its defenders, and it is so curious and interesting, as connected
with the present subject, that I cannot refrain from submitting to you a few
observations recently made on it. ‘To this legend it has been objected, that
according to the testimony of Josephus, all the trees within some distance of
Jerusalem, were cut down by the Romans, to be used in the works raised
against the devoted city: and this, together with the improbability that such
trees should exist above eighteen centuries, has been considered as conclu-
sive against the claim made for them, though it has not been denied, that they
are probably the oldest olive trees in the world.” That claim, however, has
found an advocate in Dr. Wilde. He says: It is true, that the Romans cut
down the wood about Jerusalem, but the timber of our olive trees would be
of little value indeed, in constructing engines, towers and battering-rams, to
be used against the Cyclopean walls of Jerusalem; and these trees, in parti-
cular, must then have been so slender that the besiegers would have consi-
dered them unfit for any such purpose. They are undoubtedly the largest,
and I may add with safety, the most ancient olive trees in the world. ‘The
largest is twenty-four feet in girth above its roots, though its topmost branch
is not thirty feet from the ground. The trunks of most of them are hollow
in the centre, and built up with stones.

There is nothing unnatural in assigning an age of nineteen centuries to
these patriarchs of the vegetable kingdom, whose growth is the slowest of
any in existence. They have not borne fruit for some years past ; but though
their branches are greatly decayed, yet, from the hardness of the wood, and
each part being so retentive of life, there is still a considerable head to each,
whose light-colored silky leaves hang like so many silver locks over their
time-worn and aged stems, that now in the evening of life are fast tottering
to decay.” Chateaubriand, in his Itinerary of 1806, from Paris to Jerusa-
lem, tells us that these trees are at least of the times of the Lower Empire.

‘Url. +L.1,1.

15

Every olive tree in Turkey, found standing by the Musselmen when they
invaded Asia, only pays one medin* to the public treasury, while the olive’
tree planted since the conquest, owes to the Grand Signior one half of its
product. These eight trees are only taxed eight medins; and this he thinks
conclusive proof that they were standing at the time of the invasion in A.
D. 1030, which would make them now considerably upwards of 800 years
old. These, it must be admitted, are natural curiosities, and evidence only
of the great durability of the trees, It is universally agreed, however, that
they will last healthy and productive for two hundred years, and are, to
use the expression of Pliny, Firmissima ad vivendum.t+

Considerable difference of opinion, among the writers on the subject, ex-
ists as to the average quantity of oil usually made from one tree. Mr.
Jefferson says, tolerably good olive trees yield one year with another, about
20 pounds of oils. Laing, in his notes of a traveller, remarks that a single
olive tree will sometimes yield from one crop nearly fifty gallons of oil; and
Jahu, in his Biblical Archeology (§71,) tells us that sometimes one thou-
sand pounds are obtained from one tree. I have somewhere, I think, seen
it asserted, that in the olive growing countries, a single productive tree will
maintain a whole family.

When this subject was chosen for the leading matter in my proposed
essay for the Society—having, in truth, no resources on it in my own obser-
vation or experience—I was anxious to benefit by the observations and
experience of the planters, the practical agriculturists among us, who had
given any attention to the culture of this tree. James Hamilton Couper,
Esq., of Georgia, one of the most intelligent gentlemen and scientific plant-
ers of oursouthern country, had engaged, as I was informed, in this culture.
I immediately addressed a note to him on the subject, stating to him the object
of my enquiry, and soliciting him to furnish me with such information on
itas might be convenient to him. In a very short time he, with the utmost
liberality and kindness, made me a communication of the 3d of September
last, which I consider of great importance, and which, with his permission,
as it was sought for you, I now beg leave to submit to the Society.

“Near Darien, 3d Sept. 1846.

My Dear Sir:—I beg you to be assured that, in complying with your re-
quest to furnish you with any facts within my knowledge and my view gen-
erally, on the subject of the cultivation of the olive tree in this country, [
feel equal pleasure in promoting a patriotic object, and in being able, in
however trifling a degree, to gratify your personal wishes.

Having had my attention called, many years ago, to this subject, by an
experiment on a somewhat large scale, which my father made in 1825; and
having devoted some attention to the works of European writers on the cul-
tivation of the olive, and the manufacture of oil from it, I hope that the fol-
lowing extracts from my note book may save you some trouble in your in-
vestigations. I have probably given much that is already familiar to you;
but if I have, you must blame yourself for professing that the subject is
comparatively new to you. |

* A medin is a money—of Alexandria, worth 33 aspres—of Smyrna, worth the one-
hundred part of a piastre—and a silver money of Constantinople, worth 3 aspres ; one
aspre is worth about 9 deniers, and the denier is the twelfth part of a sou.

+Theoph. His. vi, 14. Plin. xvi, 90. Naile, Olivier. 2Jeff. W. 125.

16

The first and all-important question which presents itself is, whether our
climate is adapted to the olive tree: and to what portion of our territory we
may hope to extend its cultivation. The facts which will be presented, are,
I think, decisive, that the immediate sea-board of South Carolina and Geor-
gia, the whole of Florida, and the borders of the Gulf of Mexico, are as
suitable for the cultivation of the olive, as the south of France.

First, as to climate—Arthur Young, in his travels through France, vol. 1,
page 311, observes, “several other plants, beside the olive, mark this cli-
mate, (the olive climate.) Thus, at Mentelimart, in Dauphiné, besides that
tree, you meet with, for the first tame, the pomegranate, the Arbor Jude, the
paliurus, figs, and the evergreen oak.”

The orange tree is found to be more tender than the olive, in France and
Italy. The same writer says, “the latter plant (the orange,) is so tender,
that this (Hieres) is supposed to be the only part of France, in which it will
thrive in the open air. I went to Hieres to view them, and it was with pain
[ found them, without exception, so damaged by the frost, in the winter of
1788, as to be cut down, some to the ground, and others to the main stem.”

Rosier, in his Cours d’ Agriculture, t. 7, p. 258, observes, “Dans le vil-
lage d’ Hierés en est méme obligé de couvrir les citrouniers, les cedrats, etc.,
pendant les rigueurs du froid.”

Mr. Jefferson, in his letter of July, 1787, to the Agricultural Society of
South Carolina, remarks, “wherever the orange will stand at all, experience
shows that the olive will stand well, being a hardier tree.”

Simonde mentions, in his work on Tuscan Agriculture, (Tableau de’
Agriculture Toscane, p. 112,) that the olive is considered in Italy as hardier
than the vine. “L’on a souvent mis en question si l’on ne pourrait pas na-
turaliser |’ olivier dans des climate moins chauds que ceux qui lui servent de
limites, et on etait encouragé dans cette espérance par |’ observation qu’en
Italie quoique I’ olivier souffre d’un grand froid, il est, cependant considéré
cemine plus robuste que la vigne, et qu’en conséquence en le place a des ex-
positions en colle-ci ne pourrait pas créitre.” He further observes, that he
himself had vines and olives planted together, and that the former suffered
most from the cold. ‘This writer also says, that the sweet orange does not
succeed well in Tuscany, unless it is protected. ‘“Quoique l orange doux
de Portugal croisse quelquefois en plein vent, dans des jardins bien défendus
de la bise, cependant il ne réussit bien qu’en espalier, et autant qu’en peut
le préserver des grands froids avec des paillassons.” Id. page 204.

Bose, in the article Olivier, Nouveau cours complet d’ Agriculture, t. 9, says,
that the frost acts injuriously at two periods of the year in France: the first,
during mid-winter, whenever the thermometer descends lower than ten de-
grees below zero, (14° of Fahrenheit,) then, not only the branches, but
even the trunks perish, and they have to be cut down. ‘This was the case
in 1709, and in 1788, when most of the olive trees in France were destroyed
to the ground, (see Young’s Travels, vol. 1, page 311.) The second period
is during the spring, when the plant is in vegetation. 'This only occasions
the loss of one or two crops, by nipping the extreme shoots: but as injury is
more frequent from this cause than the former, the effect is nearly the same.
Bosc, who lived sometime in Charleston, attributes the neglect of the culti-
vation of the olive in Carolina, to this latter cause. ‘C’est cette cause, ainsi
que je m’en suis assuré seu les lieux qui a empéché les plantations d’oliviers
tentés en Caroline, aux environs de Charleston, climat plus chaud qu aucun
canton de France, de reusstr.” '

17

These extracts, which are from writers of the highest authority, are inter-
esting, as they show from the growth of the fig, the pomegranate, and the
orange, that the climate of the olive region of France is no milder than the
maritime districts of South Carolina and Georgia, and the whole of Florida.
But the actual growth of the olive tree itself, proves this most conclusively,
as far as the limited period which has elapsed since the introduction of tha’
plant into this country, admits of a comparison.

I believe that you had some olive trees growing in Charleston for half a
century, before the fatal spring of 1835. Ramsey mentions the fruit being
pickled from trees imported by Henry Laurens.

At Dungeness, on Cumberland Island, Georgia, a number of trees bore
abundantly for many years before that season. Z

In 1825, my father imported, through a French house in Charleston, tw
hundred trees from Provénce, via the Languedoc canal and Bourdeaux.
They were five months on the way, and did not arrive until May: notwith-
standing which, a very few only failed to grow. These trees were planted
at Cannon’s Point, his residence on St. Simon’s Island, latitude 31° 20; and
had borne several small crops of olives, when the severe cold of February,
1835, (8° of Fahrenheit,) injured them so much, that it was necessary to
cut them down to the ground. ‘They all threw up shoots from the old
stumps; and many of them have now attained to a diameter of nine inches.
For the last two years they have produced some fruit: and this year, about
one-half of the trees are bending under the weight of an abundant crop.
About one hundred trees raised from cuttings, are also beginning to bear.
It is now twenty-one years since the importation of these trees, and with the
exception of the destructive season of 1835, they have never, in the slight-
est degree, been injured by the cold. The last winter was one of unusual
severity,—the thermometer having sunk to 19° Fahrenheit; and although
the sweet oranges, on the same plantation, were much injured, some having
been cut down to the ground, I could not perceive that a single leaf, among
two hundred and fifty olive trees, had been touched by the frost. This ex-
perience is certainly very satisfactory, the more particularly, as it is certain
that the season of 1835 was the coldest, known on this coast, for at least one
hundred years; as is proved by the destruction of orange trees on St. Simon’s
Island, which had stood since the occupation of that island by Gen. Ogle-
thorpe, and of others at St. Augustine, which dated still farther back.

The effect of one such disastrous year, should not discourage the intro-
duction of so valuable a tree. In the South of France, they have perse-
vered in its cultivation, although, in 1709, and 1788, almost every tree was
destroyed to the ground; and they were severely.injured in 1740, 1745,
1748, 1755 and 1768. (Nouveau Cours d’ Agri, t. 9, p. 194.)

With respect to the danger from the frosts of the spring, alluded to by
Bosc, it may be observed, that very fortunately the olive tree is late in put-
ting out its flowers, and that they rarely appear before the end of April, by
which time there is little risk from frosts on this coast. The failure of the
crop for one or two years would be the only injury.

It may be doubted whether the olive tree can be cultivated beyond the
influence of the sea air, on the coast of Carolinaand Georgia, with the varie-
ties at present known. But it may be hoped that this plant will, in time,
become acclimated ; and that, by pursuing the plan of raising from the seed,
which has been found to produce hardier plants, new kinds, adapted to a

Oy
(2)

18

greater range of climate, may, in time be introduced. The gradual exten-
sion of the olive, from the southern to the northern shores of the Mediter-
ranean, would encourage this expectation. ‘The southern coasts of Italy and
Spain, which are now the great oil markets of the world, were, during the
early periods of Roman history, destitute of the olive. “Sous le régne de
Tarquin l’ancien, cet arbre n’existoit point encore en Italie, en Espagne, et
en Afrique. Sous le consulat d’Appius Claudius l’huile étoit encore trés rare
a Rome; mais du temps de Pline Volivier déja passé en France et en Es-
pagne,”— Humboldt, Essai sur le Géographie des Plantes, 4 to., 1807, p. 26.

The suitableness of the soil of our southern coast to the olive tree admits
of no doubt. It thrives in every soil which is not wet. “'Toute espéce de
terre, pourvu qu’elle ne soit pas marécageuse, conviént a olivier, cependant
comme il donne souvent plus de bois que de fruits dans les terrains futiles,
et que ces terrains sont toujours précieux pour la culture du blé, etc., on le
plante plus genéralement dans des lieux caillouteux, sablonneuz, sur les co-
teaux les plus arides, pourvu qi ils soient exposés au midi ou levant.” (Now-
veau louis d’Agri., t. 9, p. 184). That the sandy lands of our sea board are
adapted to the olive, needs no other proof than the luxuriant growth of the
trees on St. Simons and Cumberland Islands.

Should the olive become acclimated to the interior of the States of South
Carolina and Georgia, it will find, in the open and gravelly soil of the ter-
tiary slope, between the granite ridge and tide water, its most congenial soil.
“ Aptissimum genus terre est oleis cui glarea subest, si superposita creta
sabulo admista est.” (Columella de re rustica, Lib. 5. Cap. 7. Aldus Ve-
netiis 1514). And in his Liber de Arboribus, Cap. 17, he says, “ Olea max-
ime collibus siccis, et argillosis gaudet, at humidis campis, et pinguibus,
letas frondes sine fructu affert.”*

Admitting the suitableness of the climate and soil of the sea coast of
Georgia and South Carolina, and that portion of the territory of the U. S.
which lies south of lat. 31°, to the cultivation of the olive, the question next
presents itself, is the introduction of that tree likely to prove such a source
of profit to the agriculturist as to be worthy of his attention? A calm exam-
ination of this part of the subject, will probably disappoint those whose stan-
dard of profit has been the exaggerated hopes of the cotton culture, and who
tolerate no delay in reaping the reward of their labor; but it may present a
sufficient inducement to devote some time and expense to the subject, to a
class of persons less impatient of growing rich, and who believe that the
direction of a part of the agricultural labor of the southern States to new
objects, is called for by the excessive production of a few staples, and. that
the introduction of a plant affording a wholesome and_ nutritious article of
food, and which is important to many valuable manufactures, will add very
materially to the wealth, happiness and independence of the country.

The distance at which the olive trees are planted, is regulated by the cir-
cumstance, whether the ground is to be devoted solely to them, or is to be
cultivated at the same time in grain. In the first case they are placed
nearer, and in the latter farther apart.

Bose, in the article quoted above, observes that generally where the soil
is fit for cultivation, the trees are placed far apart, in order to grow some
other crop in the interval between them ; and says that this practice should

* “Sed neque depressa loca, neque ardua, magisque modicos clivos amat.”—Id. Re.
Rustica,

19

be approved of, both because the olive being subject to fail in its fruit, the
whole revenue from the land is not lost, and because it is benefitted by the
annual cultivation which the other crops require, and because the greater
the distance between the trees the greater their size, and the more abundant
and the better the fruit. He adds that the average distance of the trees
apart should in rich soils be fixed at 48 feet, and in poor at 36.

Arthur Young mentions that in Languedoc “many fields are planted in
rows at 12 yards by 10.” (Travels, vol. 2, p. 72.) At Pingean, “In plant-
ing, if they mean to crop the land with corn, in the common manner, that
is, one year in two, the other fallow, they put 100 trees to 8 seterées of land ;
but if they intend to have no corn at all, the same number on 4 seterées.”
(Id. p. 73.) As the seterée is equal to half an acre, this is at the rate of 25
trees to the acre in the former, and 50 in the latter case.

The distance varies very much in other localities, but it may be assumed
as a safe ground of calculation, that 25 trees may be planted to the acre
when the land is cropped, and 50 if devoted exclusively to the olive.

The product of oil varies very much with the size of the tree, the charac-
ter of the soil, and the fruitfulness of the season.

In France, Young informs us that at Toulon, “they have great trees, that
are known to yield 20 livres to 30 livres a tree (40 lbs. to 60 lbs., or from
54 to 84 gallons of oil), when they give a crop, which is once in two years,
and sometimes once in three,—small trees yield 3 livres (6 lbs.), 5 livres
(10 lbs.) and 6 livres (12 lbs.) each.” In Languedoc, “ olives pay in gen-
eral 3 livres (6 Ibs.) each tree per annum; some 5 livres (10 lbs.).” At
Pingean, “some large and fine trees are known to give 84 lbs. of oil (or
114 gallons of oil, as the gallon weighs 7} lbs.); but they reckon in com-
mon, that good trees give 6 livres (12 lbs.) one with another.” In the arti-
cle Olive, in Michaux’s North American Sylva, Vol. 2, page 196, Mr. Hill-
house says, “the mean produce of a tree may be assumed in France, at 10
Ibs., (14 galls.) and in Italy at 15 lbs., (2 galls.): but single trees have
been known, in the productive season, to yield 300 Ibs. (41 galls.).”

Young states the produce of a field of 200 trees in Tuscany, to have

been, in 1786, - - 30 barrels, (150 lbs. each,) or 615 gallons of oil.
1787, z = 3 44 c 44 61 44
1788, be = 8 6b 66 44 164 74
LUSOyes psi Qay ye K « 512 «

66 barrels, ¢ 1352 gallons, or an

average per annum of 338 gallons, being 1% gallons per tree—Tvavels,
Vol. 2, page 235.

“On a very bad stony soil, though in the plain, I found it took twenty
trees of 25 years’ growth, to yield a barrel of oil (204 gallons). But in a
fine soil, and with very old trees, a barrel a tree has been known.”

From these statements, assuming that the district to which I have con-
jecturally limited the olive culture, has a climate as favorable for it as that
of the south of France, we may place the product of a tree in full bearing,
as giving a mean annual yield of one gallon of oil, or 25 galls. to the acre,
when the land is cultivated at the same time in some other crop; or at 50
gallons, if exclusively devoted to the olive. Estimating the oil at the mod-
erate price of 75 cents per gallon, and the value will be, in the former case,
$184 per acre, and in the latter, $374. But to the first must be added the

20

value of the corn or other crops cultivated on the same land; and which
may be put down at nearly a full crop every second year, as the trees are
reckoned in Italy to diminish the grain crop only one-fifth. 1

It is presumed that the best mode of promoting the general introduction
of the olive into this country, will be, to recommend the mixed cultivation.
As the olive only begins to bear about the tenth year, and does not arrive at
its full production before the twentieth to the thirtieth, few persons would
consent to expend so much labor before reaping any return.

But under the mixed system, nearly the full amount of the usual crops 1s
made, and the manuring and cultivating of the grain crops, will be suffi-
cient for the olive trees, and the labor of planting the young trees, is almost
the only extra work they will require until they commence bearing. ‘The
only objection which is likely to present itself at present, is the necessity of
excluding all stock from the fields: but whenever our agriculture shall be-
come more enlightened, this will be generally done.

The question may be asked by those who have usually regarded olive oil
as merely an article of household economy, of very limited use in North
America, whether a ready sale of the oil can be depended on? They may
believe with the late Abbe Correa, that our countrymen have “bacon stom-
achs,” and that it will be very difficult, so far to conquer the obstinacy of
established habit, as to induce them to substitute pure oil for rancid bacon.
If the only use of this oil were for food, it would undoubtedly require time
to introduce it into general consumption: but that time will effect it, there
can be no doubt, from the intrinsic value of the article. . Until then an am-
ple demand for all that can be produced will be found in the annually in-
creasing consumption of this oil in machinery, and in various manufactures,
particularly of wool and soap.* Already we import 82,655 gallons, (see
Report of the Secretary of the Treasury for 1845,) and as our manufac-
tures are comparatively as yet but in their infancy, and our population in-
creasing with undiminished rapidity, there is no danger of the production
overtaking the demand. What the demand may become, is shown by the
facts that England imported in the year 1830, 2,791,057 gallons of olive
oil, valued then at about $2,500,000—an average of 88 cents per gallon
(McCulloch’s Commercial Dictionary, article olive oil): and that France,
although the production of that kingdom was, as early as 1788, estimated
at 75,000,000 of franes, or nearly $15,000,000,+ (Peuchet Statistique Elémen-
taire de la France, p. 327,) has yet imported in one year olive oil to the
value of nearly 30,000,000 of francs, or $6,000,000.

Some idea may be formed of the value of the olive tree as a source of na-
tional wealth, from the above statement of its production in France, a coun-
try on the northern verge of the olive climate. In countries more favorably
situated, it is still more important. The small kingdom of Naples exports
annually about 7,300,000 gallons of olive oil, valued there at $3,400,000
(McCulloch’s Com. Dict., article Naples).

But as olive oil enters largely into domestic consumption, particularly
among the lower classes, forming a wholesome and nutritious article of
food, it has an importance far exceeding its merely commercial value. The
Se PaO ems ere MET or ae ae.

* Hereafter, perhaps, when the whale fishery shall be exhausted, for lights.

+ Chaptal estimates the quantity of land cultivated in the olive in France, at 43,000
hectanes, or about 106,000 acres, which gives an annual income per acre of nearly
$14.—De UV Industrie Francaise, t. 1, p. 207.

21

ample home production of the necessaries of life, is the true foundation of
national independence and happiness: and whatever adds to the unstinted
enjoyment of physical comfort, it becomes the well wisher of his country to
cherish more sedulously than those articles which have a merely money
value. It may safely be asserted that the United States owe their great
happiness and prosperity more to the cheap abundance of Indian corn, and
the consequent full supply of animal food, than to all of the staples which
figure so largely on the list of foreign exports.

Mr. Jefferson, with equal beauty and patriotism, observes, “If the mem-
ory of those persons is held in great respect in South Carolina, who intro-
duced there the culture of rice, a plant which sows life and death with almost
equal hand,* what obligations would be due to him, who should introduce
the olive tree, and set the example of its culture! Were the owners of
slaves to view it only as a means of bettering their condition, how much
would he better that by planting one of these trees for every slave he pos-
sessed! Having been myself an eye witness to the blessings which this
tree sheds on the poor, I never had my wishes so kindled for the introduc-
tion of any article of new culture into our own country.”—Ledter to the Agri-
cultural Society, So. Ca.

If the facts given above are sufficient to prove the importance and practi-
cability of cultivating the olive among us, no impediment is presented by
the difficulty of propagating it, as it is readily increased by seed, by cut-
tings, suckers, portions of the root, or by grafting. The mode of raising by
the seed is only resorted to in order to produce new varieties, or as stocks
for grafting, as the fruit from seedlings, although yielding an oil of a more
delicate and higher flavor, is usually very small. Grafting improves the
quality of the fruit; but is not so generally resorted to as propagation by
suckers and cuttings. The last is the most practised. Limbs from an inch
to an inch and a half in diameter, are cut into lengths of from 12 to 15
inches. ‘Trenches five feet apart and six to eight inches deep being pre-
pared, the cuttings are placed in them, about eighteen inches apart, and in
an oblique position, so that when the earth is filled in, from one to two
inches will remain above the ground. On the exposed end a little garden-
er’s cement should be smeared, to exclude the water; and over the whole
some moss or loose sand is drawn, for some time, to diminish the evapora-
tion. In dry weather the cuttings should occasionally be watered, until —
they have taken root. Until the third year nothing more is required than
to cultivate among the young plants, and to trim them to a single stem.
When three years old, the young trees should be planted out in the usual
way, at distances of from 30 to 48 feet. The holes should be made large
and deep, and had better be dug several months before the trees are put out.
The subsequent cultivation consists in removing the suckers, trimming out
the dead wood, in manuring moderately once in 3 or 4 years, digging
around the roots annually, and in ploughing once a year the intervals, un-
less a crop of grain is cultivated among them. Much difference of opinion
exists in France, on the subject of pruning: but unless it is deemed desira-
ble to keep the trees low for the facility of gathering the fruit, or to dimin-
ish the risk of their being blown down by high winds, all that appears to
be necessary is to remove the decayed wood, and to keep the head of the

* The underlining is my own. One who has cultivated rice for 25 years, must feel
the force and emphasis of this beautiful figure.

22

tree moderately open, for the free admission of light and heat.* With us
the liability to severe gales of wind, will recommend low trimming: and
the same evil will probably lead to the practice of grafting on seedling
stocks, the tap root of which will ensure the stability of the future tree.
From cuttings, in thin soils, the roots will be too superficial for safety.

The manufacture of this oil is extremely simple; and requires no very
complicated or expensive machinery. ‘The latter consists of a mortar, a
revolving stone, or some other contrivance for separating the pulp from the
stones, and of rendering it a paste: a revolving stone, like a bark or cider
mill for crushing the stones: a lever or screw press for the pressing of the
oil from the pulp and stones; bags of coarse cloth or hair to contain the
pulp; and wooden or earthen-ware vessels for receiving the oil from the
presses, and for separating it from the mucilage.

As soon as the Olives are ripe, which is indicated by their becoming of
a dark color and soft,t they are gathered by hand, and spread out over
floors to the depth of a few inches. In this situation they remain three
days, being turned daily, and the decayed berries carefully picked out—
They are then placed in the mortar or under a stone, and moderately tritu-
rated, until the pulp is reduced to a paste, and is detached from the stones.
The stones having been removed, the pulp is then put into coarse and strong
bags, and placed under the press, which should be worked very slowly at
first. From the press the oil mixed with mucilage runs into wooden vessels,
half filled with water. After standing from 12 to 24 hours, to give time
for the mucilage to separate from the oil, the latter is decanted into other
vessels, and remains undisturbed for about 20 days. It is then ready to be
decanted again and finally put into the barrels in which it is to remain.—
During this repose, nearly all the mucilage will have been precipitated ; but
the oil is still liable to be troubled until it has been exposed to the cold.

The oil from this expression is of the first quality. The pulp or cake re-
maining in the bags from this first pressure, is then broken up, moistened
with warm water, returned to the bags, and again pressed. ‘The oil from it
is nearly equal to the first, and may be mixed with it.

The stones having been reduced to a paste by grinding under stones, are
pressed in the same way, and yield an inferior oil, of a harsh taste, and run-
ning rapidly into a state of rancidity.

The quantity of oil which may be extracted from a given weight of the fruit
is stated by M. Sieuve (Nouveau Cours d’ Agriculture, Article, Huile), as
follows: 100 Ibs. of sound olives gave 76} lbs. of pulp, and 22 lbs stones.
The 764 lbs. of pulp, when pressed, yielded 214 lbs. of limpid oil of the Ist
quality. The stones, having been ground, gave 6 lbs. 14 oz. of kernel, and
14 lbs. 4 0z. of woody fibre. The kernel and woody fibre gave 5% lbs. of
inferior oil. Together making 27 lbs. of oil from 100 Ibs. of olives.

The refuse of the manufacture forms a valuable manure.

The above is a mere outline of the mode of cultivating the olive, and of
extracting the oil. To enter fully into the subject, would occupy many
sheets of paper; and such detailed information is probably foreign to your
purpose, which, it is presumed, is to recommend it to the attention

* Virgil appears to have been no advocate of the pruning hook.

“Contra, non ulla est oleis cultura: neque illz
“ Procurvam expectant falcem v [Georgica, Lib. 2, v. 420.

+ On St. Simons the season of maturity is October.

ee

yjy9
23

of the South, by presenting for consideration its most important features ;—
and to go no farther into minutie than may be necessary to an accurate
knowledge and correct appreciation of it.

If, however, I am mistaken, as to your views, it will give me pleasure to
furnish you, hereafter, with any further details.

To those seeking the fullest and most practical information on this sub-
ject, I would recommend the perusal of the Articles Olivier, Huiles and
Moulins in the Nouveau Cours d’ Agriculture, 13 vol., 8 No., Paris, 1809.
They form a most excellent treatise, and are fromthe pen of Bosc, to whom
I was introduced at Paris, as one of the most able and distinguished of their
Agricultural writers. Bose has taken the articles of the celebrated Abbe
Rozier as his basis, but has retrenched from them much that was useless,
and added much that is valuable. Should your State Society be disposed
to patronize the Olive—and I trust that your address will so incline them—
a translation of these essays, accompanied by two or three plates, which
would form a pamphlet of some 50 pages, will place the public in possession
of the best attainable information—information not now existing in an En-
glish dress, as far as I am aware.

The experiment made by my father—who, although 88 years no longer
allow of his taking an active part in field operations, is still deeply interested
in the subject,—has proved so satisfactory, that it is my intention to prose-
cute it on a larger scale. We have succeeded perfectly in pickling the Ol-
ive, and in making from it the finest oil [ have ever tasted. ‘This season I
expect to make several hundred bottles of oil; and if lam not disappointed
by a hurricane, I hope this winter to submit a sample for your critical
judgment. Having now about 250 trees of various ages ; and intending to
increase them, I hope ina few years to be able to test conclusively the ques-
tion of the Olive culture in Georgia. The experiment will not be a costly
one, as the ground occupied by Olives is cultivated at the same time in other
crops.

The following quotation from Columella, with which I will close this
very long communication, (in which I have without mercy emptied out up-
on you my note book), is consolatory to the experimenter ; and will, [ am
sure, recommend “ the first of all trees” to that large class of persons, who,
although having their full share of a desire for good things, are equally
adverse to labor and to risk :

““ Longeque ex omnibus stirpibus minorem impensam desiderat olea, que
prima omnium arborum est, nam quamvis non continuis annis sed fere
altero quoque fructum afferat, eximia tamen ejus ratio est, quod lew cultu
sustinetur, et cum se non indutt, viz ullam impensam poscit. Sed et siquam
recipit, subinde fructus multiplicat. Neglecta compluribus annis non ut
vinea deficit, eoque ipso tempore aliquid etiam interim patrifamilias prestat,
et cum adhibita cultura est, uno anno emendatur. Quare etiam nos in hoc
genere arboris diligenter pracipere censuimus.” Col. de re rustica Lib. 5. Cap. 7.

Requesting that you will at all times command me whenever [I can be
useful to you, I am with great respect and esteem, ;
My dear sir, your ob’t servant,

; ; J. HAMILTON COUPER.
M. Kine, Esq.”

24

The facts and information given by this excellent letter, are full and sat-
isfactory on the culture of the Olive tree, and the adaptation of that culture
to our climate. They are full of hope and encouragement. They show,
without any reasonable doubt, that our Southern country is well adapted to
this culture—that it promises a rich reward to the labors of the husbandman
—and, that, if successful, it could not fail to add greatly to our wealth and
prosperity. Permit me, [ pray you very earnestly, to press it upon you.

Under your direction, an experiment on a scale commensurate with the
importance of the undertaking, might be made, if experiment it can be called
with the evidence now before us. Let a Committee of the Society be ap-
pointed to superintend and conduct this experiment. _A small tract of land
on some of our sea islands might be selected for it—our members along the
sea board might individually turn their attention to it, on their own planta-
tions, with the least possible interruption to their other pursuits. ‘The more
extensively the experiments are made, the more satisfied will the mind be
with the results. All the information necessary to conduct these experi-
ments with the requisite skill, can be easily obtained. Young trees might
even be procured from Corsica, as the most likely to stand the variations
of our climate.

That the eye of the master maketh the horse fat—that the footstep of
the planter is the best manure, are maxims as old, at least, as the days of
Aristotle ;* and our own Franklin has repeated the well known aphorism :

He who by the plough would thrive,
Himself must either hold or drive.

It may be laid down as an axiom, that he, who, in the present state of
our knowledge, would succeed in the culture of the Olive, must attend to it
himself. Skill, care and perseverance, must combine, under providence, to
secure to us the blessing of the Olive tree; and with them, success, I confi-
dently believe, is certain. Who can estimate the value of that success ?—
The happy introduction of this culture, under your auspices, Gentlemen,
would illustrate and hallow the annals of the Society. It would open a new
era in the industry of South Carolina, and entitle you to the gratitude of
posterity !

This is the age of discovery, and improvement. ‘The mind of man seems
to have received a fresh impulse from the circumstances by which it is sur-
rounded—from the events by which it is educated—and to have started for-
ward in a new career of knowledge and power. Man wields, at pleasure,
the mighty energies of steam—he makes the lightning his messenger—and
measures the distance of the stars. Agriculture, according to its nature,
under his direction, partakes in this onward movement. New modes of
culture are introduced—new agents of fertility areemployed. The results
of intelligent observation, and of multiplied and well-conducted experiments,
are carefully recorded, and garnered up, in able and widely circulated works,
for the use of the practical farmer and future inquirer. Science is exerting
all her powers to promote the advancement, and crown the labors of this—
the noblest of all the arts. Who shall set limits to its progress? Who.shall
say hitherto shall it come and no further? Who can anticipate the extent

* Tépayo spur Selo TIMAAICH Iararoy miaiver, “6 Tod Oecrors bpbarpoc” don—s 08
Aibus epurnsis woia xompos apicn, “ra 00 decarors tx~vy” Epn.—( Arist, Oik, e VL).

v P

“a

25

of the future conquests of mind over matter ; or of the command which man
is destined to wield over the elements created for him, and given to him to
control and to enjoy? Let him fearlessly and faithfully pursue his high
destiny. Let him never despair of anything that les within the limits of
possibility. Let him be true to himself, and use without abusing the means
which Heaven has bestowed, and has given him the capacity to discover
and employ; and he may go on, from one degree of excellence to another,
until he has drained the noxious fen, and purified the tainted air, and sub-
dued and fertilized the barren wilderness, and made the desert to rejoice and
blossom like the rose, and spread peace, and plenty, and health over the face
of the whole earth.

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