HORTICULTURE BY IRRIGATION. 



141 



by shippers prior to the injunction against raising the 

 rate. 



It will thus be seen that while the Florida Exchange 

 has been of very great advantage to many orange 

 growers in the State, it has been of even higher 

 advantage probably as an object lesson to the whole 

 country, showing the beneficial results of cooperative 

 effort along the lines of rural industry, especially in 

 marketing the products of the soil. In fact, the 

 Florida Fruit Exchange has demonstrated beyond a 

 question the pre-eminent benefits of cooperation 

 among fruit producers and shippers. 



To a very great extent the same may be said of the 

 Southern California Fruit Exchange, organized last 

 fall for the better marketing of the citrus fruit crops of 

 that State. At this writing full data of the operations 

 of the Exchange are not available, but partial reports 

 of the management from time to time through the 

 season show conclusively that the Exchange has been 

 an agency of the greatest value in the distribution of 

 the crop to the best available markets. So far as at 

 present writing it may be stated, the net returns to 

 growers who shipped through the California Exchange 

 were about the same as those given above for Florida. 

 And it is conceded by very many well informed 

 growers that except for the Exchange the returns 

 could not have been so favorable by a large percent- 

 age. 



But the strange thing in connection with both the 

 California and Florida Exchanges is that the orange 

 growers in each State hesitate about joining their 

 fortunes with their neighbors. Whether this results 

 from selfishness, want of information, distrust of 

 others, or from habitual indifference it is difficult to 

 say; but the fact remains that not nearly all growers 

 have as yet joined the Exchanges or any other coop- 

 erative association for marketing fruit in either State. 

 The Florida organization is much older than that in 

 California, and its operations have been generally 

 conceded to have been honest and efficient ; yet men 

 still hesitate to patronize it, and send their fruit pro- 

 miscuously to commission houses in the North who 

 make such returns as they please. The same is true 

 in California; but the indications now are that in both 

 States a more enlightened policy will be hereafter 

 adopted by growers generally, and this means full, 

 complete and permanent cooperation. 



THE LEMONS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



FLORIDA lemon growers assert that the fruit pro- 

 duced in that State, under the best conditions of 

 cultivation and curing, far surpass the imported fruit, 

 and weigh about fifteen pounds per box more than 

 that usually brought from Italy or Spain. That lemons 

 of the finest quality are produced in considerable 

 quantities both in Florida and California there is no 



doubt whatever. And the problem of producing in 

 those States all the lemons required by the people of 

 the United States is merely one of suitable climatic 

 conditions and skill in curing the fruit for market. 



Some two or three years ago careful tests were 

 made under the direction of officials of the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, and it was then ascertained that 

 the lemons tested, which were grown at Riverside, 

 California, fulfilled every possible requirement and 

 were pronounced far superior in nearly all respects 

 to the best imported lemons to be found in the mar- 

 kets of Washington. Doubtless those grown under 

 the best conditions in Florida would be found to 

 possess most if not all the desirable qualities found 

 in the California fruit. The lemon trees and fruit are 

 less hardy than the orange, hence require a mild 

 winter temperature unless it happens that the fruit in 

 the locality will mature nearly at the same time, and 

 before the approach of winter. Ordinarily, however, 

 the lemon tree matures its fruit continuously, and 

 therefore it is generally important that the mer- 

 cury should never go below 32 for best results. 

 While a temperature of 32 may not seriously damage 

 a lemon crop provided the mercury does not remain 

 long at that point, yet if an orchard site can be selected 

 where the thermometer always registers above the 

 freezing point it will, other conditions being equal, 

 enjoy very great advantages over one where the mer- 

 cury goes below 32. The tenderness of the lemon 

 of course necessarily restricts possible plantings to 

 the milder sections of the more southern States of the 

 Union. And even in the southernmost sections, if 

 far removed from the sea, lemon culture is quite un- 

 certain, if not impossible, by reason of extremes of 

 temperature. The greatest care should therefore be 

 exercised in selecting a site for a lemon orchard. 



The prime consideration, however, is to find a place 

 as nearly frostless as possible, for there are very few 

 "frostless belts" in the United States, although the 

 real estate boomers advertise large areas under that 

 seductive title. The site once selected, the trees 

 should be of the best budded varieties, and among 

 them the Lisbon, Eureka and Villa Franca are stand- 

 ard sorts and have many of the best qualities to be 

 found in lemons anywhere. The Villa Franca is 

 alleged to be more hardy than trees of most other 

 varieties. The trees should have been budded upon 

 orange stock, and if upon the wild orange it is just as 

 well, possibly better. Experience has not yet fully 

 demonstrated which is best for lemons, the sour or 

 sweet orange stock. But in no case should lemon 

 trees budded upon lemon or lime stock be used. The 

 spreading habit of the lemon tree would suggest a 

 distance of at least twenty-four feet between trees, 

 and an orchard planted as here suggested will scarcely 

 fail to give you returns if properly cultivated, 

 watered and fertilized. 



