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At all times, the olive trees have born part of a dream related
to the sunshine of the warm countries where they can be found
in general. During the Antiquity, the tree was the emblem of
fertility and the symbol of peace and glory. It is indeed a splendid
tree. Its reflections under the sun are in themselves a marvellous
ode upon the South and the Mediterranean.
In the Roussillon, the olive has always been an integrating part
of life. For a long time it was considered as the "green
gold" of the catalan region, being at the centre of the
basic nourishment of the rural civilisations, alongside with
wine and bread. Until that terrible month of february in 1956
when a sudden and monumental frost destroyed the tens of thousands
of olive trees which formed the olive growing of the Roussillon.
The seven mills closed and the garrigue took precedence over
the olive groves. |
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which attracts him as much as the vineyard. Against all expectations
and within a climate of generalized scepticism, Henri Lacassagne
decides to offer the Roussillon the largest olive grove of France
on one continuous ground north of Rivesaltes, in Salses-le-Château,
called Mas Péchot and Mas de la Chique. At the heart of
a large wine growing estate, he puts apart 40 hectares for his
olive grove which he then forms parcel upon parcel. The 40 hectares
of wasteland hills are radicaly transformed with bulldozers and
dynamite. To put his wager into form, the catalan undertaker
imports from Corsica more than fifteen thousand olive trees which
he amourously plants in the soils of Salses-le-Château,
with the aid of Maurice Trogno, his steward in those days. The
outcome is impressive, the picture is grandiose : the hills,
which up till then were nothing but garrigue, seem to be carved
out by the olive trees. At that time, Henri Lacassagne does not
know yet that thanks to this dream become true, he is going to
be considered thirty years later as a real visionary. Indeed,
in the meantime, the olive oil has become "à la mode"
and its gustative, energetic and dietetic qualities are unanimously
recognized by the scientific, the medical and the gastronomical
communities. |
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Henri Lacassagne knows that his descendants will see the fruits
of his olive trees 25 to 30 years after the levelling of the
grounds and the plantation. He dies in the beginning of the nineties,
proud of the choices he has made and convinced of the forthcoming
renaissance of the olive. A renaissance which becomes a fact
in 1993 when Edouard Raymond decides to complete the work of
his ancestor. «My grandfather has started a grand piece
of work. To honour his memory, I've wanted it to work. The first
year, we have trimmed and irrigated 6000 trees by hand. Today,
we work with 10000 trees. Within two or three years, we will
have 18000 trees, for a total production of 280 tons of olives,
which will perhaps enable the creation of a mill. Today, we only
harvest 15 kg of olives per irrigated tree. And "irrigation"
is not an idle word. In our arid soils, every olive tree needs
40 litres of water a day ! For the time being, the olive oil
of Lacassagne is won at Millas, the only mill of the Roussillon
to have survived the frost of 1956. » |
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