Those _Olives_ of which you design to make Oil, must ripen ’till they are even rotten; and the Reason is, because the sulphurous Parts in them have had Time to disengage themselves from those gross Principles, which before fix’d them, which we know by the sweetish and oily Taste that then they had. They also let them ferment for some time before they press them, that so those sulphurous Parts may free themselves, and be more fully separated from the watry and saline Parts, with which they were united in the Fruits. Here it is to be observ’d that you cannot extract a Drop of Oil from green olives, but only a viscous Juice, because their oily Principles are very strictly united with their other Principles. The Leaves of the _Olive-Tree_ are astringent, and fit for to stop the Bleeding of the Nose, and Looseness. There are certain wild _Olive-Trees_ that grow near the Red-Sea, from which there sweats out a Gum that stops Blood, and cures Wounds. The _Olive-Tree_ in Latin called _Olea_, comes from the _Greek_ Word _elaia_ which also signifies the same Thing.” * * * * * A later work, “The Lady’s Assistant” published in 1778, gives a much better idea of how little they were used at that time in England. OLIVES “OLIVES are the fruits of trees, which grow wild in the warmer parts of Europe; we have them in some of our gardens; but with us they will not ripen to any perfection. There are three kinds, the Italian, Spanish, and French; we have them therefore of various sizes and flavors; some prefer one, and some the other. The fine sallad oil, as has been before mentioned, is made from this fruit, for which purpose they are gathered ripe; but for pickling they are gathered when half-ripe, at the latter end of June: they are put into fresh water to soak for two days; after this they throw them into lime-water in which some pearl-ashes have been dissolved: they lie in this liquor six-and-thirty hours; then they are thrown into water which has had bay-salt dissolved in it: this is the last preparation, and they are sent over to us in this liquor: they are naturally as they grow on the tree very bitter, and therefore require all these preparations to bring them to their fine flavor. To some olives they add a small quantity of essence of spices, which is an oil drawn from cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, coriander and sweet-fennel seed distilled together for that purpose: twelve drops are enough for a bushel of olives: some prefer them flavored with this essence, but others like them best plain.” At present the use of aromatic substances commercially is not large. It is contended that consumers cannot use flavored olives in sauces or other preparations so freely, as extraneous flavors are introduced which in some cases are undesirable, the unflavored olive permitting greater freedom in use.