700 REPORT OP THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



and autumn when rains are late, and this is done repeatedly. It is commonly cal- 

 culated that the average yield of these trees is worth about §3 each. No exporta- 

 tion of oranges or lemons is made; on the contrary, large importations are made 

 from Syria. 



A. a. STUDER, CONSUL, SINGAPORE, INDIA. 



Lemons. — In lieu of the usual lemon known to us in the United States, we have 

 here the "Citronella lime," a small fruit, a trifle over an inch in diameter, of pale 

 green color, very acid. This grows well, \vithout much care, almost every where in 

 the Indo-Malayan Archipelago and in India also; it is very plenty and cheap. This 

 tree has tiie advantage of not only yieldmg its valuable fruits (valuable not only for 

 cookery and lemonade, but for many medicinal purposes), but for the strongly cit- 

 ronella-charged leaf, out of which citronella essential oil can be extracted, forming 

 as it does a very important article of export. 



Oranges, Straits Settlements.— The cultivation of the orange here is not at all ex- 

 tensive, and met with here and there in fruit orchards, the trees planted closely 

 together. The oranges are utterly unhke those produced in America or Europe. 

 Here the orange is of deep green color, of the size of an average apple. There are 

 two kinds, one rather sour and emitting a strong peculiar odor partly orange and 

 citronella, and the other resembling this in color and size, but of a sweet, insipid 

 taste. 



The Pomelo, or Pampelmus, is an indigenous fruit of Indo-China, the ]\Ialay Pe- 

 ninsula, and most islands of the Indo-Malayan Archipelago. Its form is slightly 

 pear shaped from the middle downwards to the stem; it is of large size, average of 

 about 5 inches in diameter; its color is of pale green; skin thick, but peels off 

 quite readily, and is of a slightly warted and punctvu'ed appearance. It is vinous, of 

 sweet taste, with pleasant subacid flavor, and is a very refreshing and wholesome 

 fruit. The color of the juice is from hght to dark amber, with a reddish subtint; 

 those from Java being the darkest colored and considered the best, and those from 

 Siam the next best. 



China oranges. — The quantity of oranges consumed in the ports is enormous, and 

 by far the largest portion comes from China. Of Chinese oranges I have noted es- 

 sentially three kinds. All of them have the true orange color and resemble the 

 Itahan orange, only that they are smaller. The first is known as the Swatow orange, 

 and it is the largest of the Chinese oranges. Its skin is not very thick, comes off 

 easily, and the fruit is juicy, sweet, with hght subacid, and of excellent flavor. 

 Two kinds are known as the Hong-Kong orange. One of these is called the Sucking 

 orange, because the skin cannot be peeled off, adhering as it does close to the flesh. 

 The other is known as the Coohe orange. It is small, like an average-sized tomato; 

 it peels easily, but has a thick skin, and while juicy and refi-eshing, has rather a 

 strong subacid taste. 



Siam oranges. — The average size of this orange is a httle over li inches in diam- 

 eter; in color it resembles a lemon rather than an orange; its skin is thinner than 

 that of any orange known to me, and peels off with great ease; it is very juicy and 

 fairly sweet, with hardly any subacid. They (Jon't keep as long as any of the Chi- 

 nese oranges. 



JOHN A. SUTTER, JR., CONSUL, ACAPULCO, MEXICO. 



Oranges and lemons. — Sweet and bitter oranges, navel oranges, lemons, limes, 

 shaddocks, and citrons are grown here, but hmes and sweet oranges are the most 

 valuable. Some 15,000 boxes of Umes are exported annually to San Francisco. 

 Only small quantities of oranges are exported to San Fi'anciscc^ from December to 

 February, before the crop from the islands in the Pacific o^^erstocks the market. 



Lime trees, which are allowed to grow like a bush, with branches rising from the 

 roots, commence to bear at the ags of four years, and are in full bearing when eight 

 years old. Orange trees are all seedhngs; they commence to bear at the age of five 

 years and are in fuU bearing at the age of ten years. They are planted mostly in 

 moist places, along small streamlets or gulches on the hillsides, in low bottoms along 

 rivers, or near the seashore; in sandy black loam they yield the best results; the 

 sweetest and thin-skinned oranges usually grow on hillsides, whilst the fruit of low- 

 lands is generally thick-skinned. 



Some orchards are in close proximity to the seashore, in sandy black loam, in some 

 instances with lagoons of brackish water on the side opposite to the seashore, and 

 give very excellent results. Thus situated, there is one orchard newly and regularly 

 planted of 8,000 lime trees and 100 orange trees, with room for many thousands 

 more. Few of the orchards are regularly planted; the trees are scattered here and 

 there, without any regard to economy in land occupied, laud being but of nominal 



