LEMON CULTURE. 157 



laden barque has gone down. Who wants lemons that weigh 

 from one and a half to two and a half pounds ? Not the 

 saloon-keepers, they will not, when sliced, go into their 

 tumblers ; not the confectioners, their rind is too coarse 

 and bitter, and the juice too scarce; not the private 

 family, they are too much for one and not enough for 

 two; in fact, no one wants these monsters, and ere while 

 our growers were striving to see who could produce the 

 largest lemons that would sell the least. Very large lem- 

 ons are not only rough-skinned, but their centers are hol- 

 low and the pulp contains comparatively little juice. 



This is why the common Florida lemon is good only for 

 home use ; it will not sell in the markets, but is valuable 

 to the growers for family purposes, because it fruits ear4y 

 from the seed, is very prolific, bears constantly, blossoms, 

 ripe and half-grown fruit, and buttons just set, all hang- 

 ing on the tree together. 



Growers are finding out their mistake now as to the 

 right kind of lemons to put on the markets to compete 

 with the foreign fruit. The latter meets the popular want ; 

 therefore, in size, aroma, color, texture of the skin, free- 

 dom from seeds, and the absence of bitterness in the rind 

 after being a long time in water, in all these points we 

 have our model ready at hand, and it must be followed if 

 we of America would drive out the foreigner. 



This same special committee to which we have referred 

 has also pointed out the way to do this ; it collected for 

 investigation lemons from all quarters of the globe 

 Palermo, Messina, Malaga, Sicily, and Spain, California, 

 Mexico, South America, and Florida. The appearance 

 of the fruit, its size, quality of rind, percentage of acid- 

 ity, bitterness, flavor, and quantity of juice, are the points 

 that were made a basis of comparison. 



And this was the result of long and patient examina- 



