156 FLORIDA FRUITS LEMONS. 



ease, and scale insects more rarely attack it. Where an 

 orange tree will bear one thousand oranges, a lemon of 

 the same age will bear from three to five thousand. 



It is rather a notable oddity that the first two or three 

 crops, even of the finest varieties, are apt to be coarse and 

 spongy, and totally unlike the after-crops. One might al- 

 most imagine the tree to be following the example of the 

 "lords of creation," and "sowing its wild oats" in its 

 youth, before settling down as a staid, demure "dealer 

 in first-class fruits only." 



The third rock on which the lemon barque of the United 

 States was erewhile threatened with shipwreck, was the 

 "sporting" tendency of the seedling lemon. But our 

 growers have learned at last not to put their faith in trees 

 of this class, for, after patiently waiting for years, the 

 fruit, in nine cases out of ten, is worthless. The moral 

 of this is, raise no seedling lemons for their fruit; they 

 make good, thrifty stocks, and that is all they are good 

 for. 



Bud approved varieties of lemon on lemon, lime, or 

 sweet orange stock ; the last is best of all for the colder 

 sections, as it renders the tree more hardy. Never waste 

 time waiting for a seedling lemon to bear, unless you wish 

 to taste of the " Dead Sea Apple." 



The mistaken idea as to the popular lemon called for by 

 the public is well set forth (in all good faith, however) by 

 the following extract from a work quite recently published 

 about Florida : 



"The tree grows more rapidly, produces fruit sooner, 

 and has larger and better flavored lemons than are found 

 any where else. I have seen and picked lemons of one and 

 a half to two pounds in weight, and at the State fair saw 

 lemons weighing two and a half pounds." 



Now, here is the very rock on which many a lemon- 



