CITRUS FRUITS IN INDIA. 47 



APPENDIX A. 

 CITRUS FRUITS IN INDIA. 



The climate of India is suitable to the production of citrus fruits 

 from the lower altitudes of the outer Himalayas southward through- 

 out the peninsula. Although many places throughout this vast 

 region are splendidly adapted to citrus fruit growing, the acreage at 

 present in commercial production is so limited as to fall far short of 

 meeting even the home demands. Pomelos and limes are of general 

 distribution and lemons are grown to a limited extent, but it is the 

 orange alone that attains commercial prominence. 



The locations of supply most widely known and largely depended 

 upon are the Khasia Hills of Assam (PI. XI, fig. 1), the Nagpur dis- 

 trict in the Central Provinces (PI. XI, fig. 2), Poona m the Bombay 

 Presidency, and Gujranwala in the Punjab. Tlie Khasia Hills supply 

 much of the fruit used in the Calcutta and Assam markets. The chief 

 center of orange cultivation in these hills is a narrow strip of coun- 

 try bordering the south and west sides, which extends from the plains 

 up to an altitude of not more than 1,500 feet. The Khasia orange 

 gardens are seldom composed exclusively of orange trees, but have 

 them scattered through the forests with other trees, especially the 

 areca palm, from which the betel nut is derived. To the Ameri- 

 can, trees of such a character in a half-wild state would scarcely 

 be looked upon in the light of commercial production, but in India 

 they form the chief source of supply for the entire eastern part of 

 the Empire. These oranges are all seedlmgs and of the shape and 

 flavor of tangerines. They are mferior to American-grown tangerines 

 in both size and flavor. 



The Nagpur orange is the most famous orange in India. The 

 supposed excellence of this fruit is so widespread that it has almost 

 developed mto a tradition that in no place else can such excellent 

 oranges be grown as m this limited region. The writer is of the 

 opmion that this popular conception is largely a fallacy. Orange 

 growmg at Nagpur has been known for many years, and doubtless at 

 present is carried on there with more care than in almost any other 

 place in India. The fruit almost exclusively produced in this region 

 is a very loose-j acketed tangerine, somewhat above the average size of 

 this orange. It is produced on budded trees, in the selection of which 

 some care was originally used. When it is considered that the bulk 

 of the oranges grown in India are from seedling tangerine trees, many 

 of wliicli develop into unusual monstrosities through lack of selection, 

 it is easily understood that the competition of a large, loose-jacketed 

 fruit, with such an irregular assortment, would quickly place it in a 

 prominent position. The orange production about Nagpur is much 

 less than would be expected, as the total supply is probably taken 

 from far below 1 ,000 acres. 



