It is stated that the olive on reaching full size increases in weight and oil content as it matures, the various stages being approximately determined by the change in color from green to yellow, red, and finally black. When, however, one finds analyses of typical fruit of one variety and from the same place which show the flesh of the green olive to contain 23.55 per cent; yellowish green, 20.37 per cent; red, 27.35 per cent; and purple to black, 24.89 per cent oil, it discounts the color value. Other available analyses show similar discrepancies between the chemical composition and the color test as indicative of maturity. Variation in composition occurs in the same variety of fruit grown in different places as well as in the different varieties and, as with other fruits, one is dependent upon the skill of the packer in selecting raw stock and in handling it in the process of manufacture, for the quality of the article received. It is only natural to expect that a product containing so much oil and subjected to the action of lye, might be greatly changed during its preparation. The data available, however, does not sustain this premise, but shows that very little change actually takes place. LITERATURE Andran, H. M.==>Les conserves des petits menages. Armstrong, E. F.==>The simple carbohydrates and the glucosides, 1912. D’Aygalliers, P. D.==>L’olivier et l’huile d’olive, 1900. Bourquelot, Em. and Vintilesco, J.==>Compt. Rend. _147_, 533, 535, 1908. Buckland, A. W.==>Our viands, 1893. Chalmers, T. W.==>The reduction and treatment of vegetable oils, 1918. Coupin, Henri==>La conservation des fruits, des lugumes, des graines. Cruess, Wm. V.==>Home and farm food preservation, 1918. Gracey, Wilbur T.==>Olive growing in Spain. Special consular report, No. 79, Dept. of Com., 1918. Green, Mary E.==>Food products of the world, 1895. Haas, Paul and Hill, T. G.==>Chemistry of plant products, 1913. Hilts, R. W.==>Chemical study of the ripening and pickling of California olives. Bul. 803, Bu. of Chem., Dept. of Agr., 1920. Lemery, L., Translation by Hay, D.==>Treatise of all sorts of food, 1745. Loudon, J. C.==>Loudon’s encyclopedia of plants, 1866. Martyn, Charles==>Foods and culinary utensils of the ancients. Mason, Charlotte==>The lady’s assistant, 1778. Pellerin, G.==>Guide pratique de l’expert chimiste, 1910. de Savigny, G. B.==>Conserves, salaisons, et confitures de menage, 1909. Thudichum, J. L. W.==>Cookery, its art and practice, 1895. Wickson, E. J.==>California fruits, 1910. Willis, Oliver R.==>Practical flora, 1894. ==>Fig and Olive Journal, vo. 4, No. 11, Apr. 1920. ==>Seal of safety, 1915. End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Olive, by K. G. Bitting