36 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



February 3, 1912 



FRUITS AND FRUIT TREES. 



THE DOMINICA LIME IN ENGLAND. 



Success is attending an experiment designed to secure 

 for the Dominica lime, one of the fruits prown within the 

 Empire which is little known in this country, a share of the 

 popularity enjoyed in the United Kingdon by the lemon. It 

 is claimed that this product of the AVest Indies cannot only 

 be used for every purpose for which the better-known lemon 

 is employed, but that, weight for weight it contains more 

 juice. Mr. Algernon E Aspiiiall, Secretary of the West 

 India Committee, who with the Exhibition Committee of 

 Dominica is responsible for the experiment, informed a Morn- 

 ing Post representative yesterday that practical result.s had 

 undoubtedly been :achieved by their efforts to secure support 

 in this country for what is, ne.\'t to the banana, the most 

 important fruit produced in the West Indies on a commer- 

 cial basis. ' The West. Indian Produce Association ', he .said, 

 'is now importing about 100 boxes every mail, and the 

 great point gained is that limes are now obtainable on 

 a commercial basis at Covent Garden. The culllvation of 

 the lime tree is by far the largest industry of Dominica, the 

 exports of limes and lime products from that island being 

 five or six times as great as those of jMont.^errat, which 

 through judicious advertisement, has been so closely identi- 

 fied in the public mind with the fruit. The lime is already- 

 well-known and r.ppreciated in America. In 1910 there were 

 27,427 barrels shipped from Dominica, the bulk going to the 

 United States. Our efforts are being directed to making that 

 fruit better known in this country, and thus developing 

 a trade with one of our colonies. For one thing, we realize 

 that the United States offers a less safe market than that of 

 the United Kingdom, for the Americans have practically shut 

 down the busine.ss done in oranges from the British West 

 Indies by imposing a duty, with a view to protecting their 

 own orange growers.' 



On its merits, Mr. Aspinall considers the Dominica lime 

 will become more popular in this country. ' The future is 

 decidedly hopeful', he said. ' Of course, a few hot summers 

 like the last will help us enormously. We shall still continue 

 the experiment of distributing samples of limes, with litera- 

 ture, in suitable directions, and showing the fruit at exhibi- 

 tions, and Dominica is now considering proposals submitted 

 by the West India Committee for advertising the fruit on 

 a more extensive scale next year." Mr. Aspinall mentioned 

 that the only obstacle met with in popularizing the Dominica 

 lime had been the complaint that it did not keep .so well as 



the lemon, but that could be overcome by keeping each lime 

 wrapped up until it was used. (The 3forning Post, Decem- 

 ber 29, 1911.) 



THE SUGAR CONTENT OF ORANGES. 

 An ab.stract of a paper describlDg work on this .sub- 

 ject, and appearing in the CcUifurnia Cultivator for 

 May IN, 1911, is produced here from the Bulletin of 

 the Bureau ^f Agricultural Intelligence and of Plant 

 Diseases for .June 1911, p. 1245 : — 



The writer carried out a number of analyses of Valencia 

 oranges of varying degrees of ripeness, and dividing each into 

 three parts estimated the amount of acid (as citric acid), 

 grape sugar and cane sugar. The work was carried out in 

 the chemical laboratory of the Bonita High School, Arizona, 

 on Valencia oranges taken from the neighbouring orchards. 



The following results were obtained, per cent. 



I. Green. ' 



Stalk end. Middle. Top. 



Acid.. 2-49 3-32 2-27 



Grape s.ugar 4-16 3-87 4-00 



Cane sugar 3-24 4-60 .532 



II. Middle ripe. 



Acid.' 2'41 2-66 2-13 



Grape sugar 262 3-08 330 



Cane sugar 2-.54 4-82 5'34 



III. Ripe. 



Acid....... 2-57 2-61 2-06 



Grape, sugar 3 25 3 92 4-30 



Cane sugar 473 5-4.5 6'02 



From the results it i," .seen that (1) the acid decrea.ses 

 with age to a slight extent, with the larger percentage in the 

 middle portion: consecjuently to produce a fruit with the 

 minimum amount of acid, a long narrow shape is required; 

 (2) the grape sugar (glucose or dextrose) varies slightly in 

 ainount in different parts of the orange, but as this substance 

 does not add much to the sweetness of the orange, considera- 

 tion of it may be neglected; (3) the cane sugar generally 

 increases thronghout the fruit with age, but is more highly 

 developed in the top (navel end): as a very little of this sugar 

 serves to increase the sweetness, a development of this end 

 would ensure a sweeter fruit. 



