California Agriculturist and Live Stock Journal. 



7( 



I the numbei' per layer iu each compart- 

 iiicnt, contaiuiug 200, 300, 4'20 respec- 

 tively. Lemons are marked 23, 30, 30, 

 i'J. Number 36 being the best. 



The element of durability enters 

 largely iuto the price: the robafide (hard 

 skinned) sells for double the 7'(jha flacxa 

 (.soft skinned). The average prices of 

 oranges in Palermo, in 1873, were from 

 $3 50 to $5 per thousand. 



The paper used in ^Tapping is a thin 

 tissue manufactured mostly in France. 

 Boxes of beach wood are in great part 

 furnished from Maine, sent out in 

 shocks, with hooj^ poles to match, by 

 the cargo ; the sides and tojj are each of 

 two pieces. The oranges not fit for ex- 

 port are sold iu the local markets, and 

 are packed iu puncheons pierced with 

 holes, containing about 1,000, having at 

 the ends and middle abundant layers of 

 paper or straw, and shipped (as our bar- 

 rels of fruit should be) ou their sides. 



LKMONS. 



The culture of this fruit is assuming 

 enormous proportions in Sicily, being 

 much more profitable than the orange, 

 and supplanting it for that reason. I 

 have seen bearing orange groves topped 

 to receive lemon buds. It yields Jour 

 crops, comes into quicker and heavier 

 bearing and its uses in arts and medicines 

 — for citric and tartaric acid and essential 

 oil — make it necessarily of greater per- 

 manent commercial value than the or- 

 ange. It IS exjjorted every month in the 

 year. Its average yield in Sicily is 1,000 

 to 1,100— that of the orange f.OO to 800. 

 It is relatively higher priced than the 

 latter by reason of the greater durability 

 and medicinal and commercial uses. 



A careful estimate, made lately, taking 

 a large number of groves in Sicily nnder 

 similar conditions of soil, etc., shows 

 that in culture on a large scale the aver. 

 age annual yield of the lemon is $300 

 per acre, and on a small scale $150; 

 while the orange gives $175 and $90, re- 

 spectively, from the same area of land, 

 and with the same outlay. 



A disease of modern origin, the ijamma 

 — already adverted to, is causing exten- 

 sive ravages in Sicily and wide-spread 

 loss and alarm. The disease which first 

 appeared iu the Azores in 1832, and 

 which destroj'ed one-third of the orange 

 groves of St. Michaels, was introduced 

 thence into Portugal in 1875, and has 

 since spread over the orange lands of 

 Europe, making its first appearance in 

 Sicily in 1803, where it has been particu- 

 larly destructive to the lemon, while the 

 oranges are little affected by it. The 

 characteristic of this dreaded maladj' is 

 a cracking of the bark near the root from 

 which exudes gum; these cracks extend 

 upwards; the gum-tears {Iwjrmia, the 

 Italians call it) trickle down in large 

 quantities, the leaves turn yellow, the 

 bark peels oft' around the cracks, and the 

 root, too, is finally attacked, and the 

 tree soon succumbs. The production of 

 the tree would appear to be at first stim- 

 ulated by its presence, an unusually 

 large crop being often an indication of it. 

 A tree once attacked rarely survives. I 

 have seen some where deep incisions, the 

 application of hot iron, etc., at the out- 

 set had checked the further development 

 of the disease. In a recent report by the 

 French Consul at Messina to the "Soci- 

 ety of Acclimation," of France, of which 

 I am a member, this devastating scourge 

 of the lemon is ascribed to over-stimu- 

 lation, causing excessive production of 

 the tree. Space will not admit to refer 

 h(!re to other diseases of the cifrus family 

 and which deserve mention in a special 

 \ treatise. 



'i In Sicily I was told that the orange 

 ^ and lemon could be raised with a profit 

 I at one dollar per thousand, although the 



present return to the cultivator is about 

 $3; and yet Florida is far superior to 

 Sicily in climate and productiveness of 

 soil, in cheapness of land and vicinity to 

 market. A grove just planted near Pal- 

 ermo, consisting of twenty acres, which 

 I visited, cost its projirietor $20,0C0, iu 

 gold, when ready for iilauting. His ir- 

 rigation is by steam power — an English 

 engine, supplied by English coal, wat- 

 ered the ground for five months in the 

 year. Of the products of the grove — the 

 average in fact for the island — but twen- 

 ty-eight in a hundred were exported, and 

 these enveloped iu French paper, and 

 packed in American boxes, shipped in 

 English steamers with thirty-five days' 

 voyage to New York and twenty-five per 

 cent, loss on the voyage; compelled to 

 pay on arrival a duty of twenty per cent, 

 (which the State of Florida is indebted 

 to me for) this sour, half-ripe fruit can- 

 not, I think, long venture to compete 

 with the luscious orange of our own fav- 

 ored land. 



I say, therefore, to the Florida orange 

 grower that he is not only certain to sup- 

 ply, to the exclusion of all others, this 

 great market of America, but his superi- 

 or fruit is destined to supply the tables 

 of the wealthy in Europe, who will pay 

 dearly to obtain this luxury which Eu- 

 rope cannot furnish. — //. 6'. Sanford, in 

 tSeiid- Tropical (Florida) . 



%, 



c» 



PRACTICAL HEALTH TOPICS- 

 NO. 4. 



Rest and Recreafion. 



§^ 



I 



AM sometimes led to believe that 

 I really we Americans don't know the 

 meaning of the word red, we gen- 

 erally take so little of it. Our men 

 iS2 i*''^ so full of "if' eternal money mak- 

 ing, that they bring the same spirit of 

 intensitj' into both their rest and enjoy- 

 ments. iLven the women and children 

 of our land are imbued with the same 

 desire of doing or being something for 

 money. Half of our girls, and all our 

 boys, are studying to-daj' at school, col- 

 lege or workshop that they may some 

 day ;/e( rich. Perhaps they wish to ex- 

 cel; but why? Only to get a higher start 

 in life and gain the highest places and 

 be richest. So they are urged forward, 

 by teachers and parents, until their 

 brains are overtaxed, and they cannot 

 rest, and hardly play as they should, so 

 the body fails, and before they are men 

 and women they are old, with little ap- 

 jiarent desire for rest and recreation, be- 

 cause it is too irksome. 



Our pleasures are becoming intensely 

 laborious. We need a greater diversity 

 of work and recreation. At picnics I 

 have watched the youths of both sexes 

 engaged in dancing, and verily believe 

 that even the hay-field or wash-tub did 

 not cause the same amount of hard work 

 and perspiration that the mazy d;ince did. 

 Another thing I noticed, that the very 

 yonng men and girls that were strong 

 and hearty danced the hardest, and the 

 slim, pale girl was better content to walk 

 and chat with a companion than to exer- 

 cise the unused muscles as she needed to 

 do. But was the pale girl resting'? Not 

 a bit of it. She felt equally weary at 

 night, because she was using the brain 

 when she ought to hav(^ been using the 

 niusck'S and getting blood iuto them. 



The school teacher, editor and minis- 

 ter who use the brain all day cannot rest 

 by reading and studying out of hours. 



They need quiet to aid digestion, and 

 active exercise to bring the blood from 

 the brain into the eitremities and mus- 

 cles of the body, in order to equalize the 

 blood and give growth to the entire body. 

 And yet they are the very ones who seek 

 quiet enjoyments without regard to 

 health ; while the robust farmer's boy and 

 girl, who cultivate the muscles continu- 

 allj', and might really rest by quiet con- 

 versation and reading, or attending a 

 lecture, thus cultivating head and body 

 alike, are usually better pleased with 

 merry-making and muscular games and 

 break-down dance — perhaps riding miles, 

 after a tedious day's work, to enjoy such 

 a frolic. 



Another evil in our way of resting is, 

 that we rob the hours of sleep for most 

 of our recreations. Lectures, concerts, 

 dances, and all but picnics (the latter, by 

 the way, I am glad to see gaining ground 

 in our society ways of late) are in the 

 evening, often continuing until dawn. 

 And even onr chnrch revivals have taken 

 up the fashion of late hours, and fre- 

 quently keep running until near mid- 

 night. Surely the reign of muscular 

 Christianity will not long last at this rate. 



Inactivity is not always rest, and a 

 large majority of ourwomen to-day need 

 the exercise of muscle out of doors in 

 pure air to ba strong and healthy. 

 Physicians are beginning to prescribe the 

 "lift cure" and "movement cure" in 

 certain forms of disease, with excellent 

 success. But if our habits of life were 

 more in conformity with nature's laws, 

 so that the brain and muscles were har- 

 moniously developed, and common work 

 was not considered degrading to the 

 well-to-do, all would be healthier and 

 happier. Civilization is a failue when 

 one half of the people are over-worked, 

 with no time for pleasure and rest, and 

 the other half have not enough to do to 

 keep them in health so as to enjoy life, 

 and all are on a mental strain to get or 

 to keep wealth. 



The Improved Underwear. 



Ed. AGHicuLTtrEisT : In the March 

 number of the AoRicnLTnuisT I saw an 

 advertisement of the combination under- 

 wear for ladies and children. Having 

 long hoped and looked for something of 

 the sort, I at once got iiatterns and made 

 the garments. I therefore feel doubly 

 like recommending them to the ladies 

 everywhere. The patterns seem perfect 

 in ever}' point of view, viz. : cheapness 

 and simplicity of make, and fitting the 

 body easily, at the same time covering it 

 entirely, thus insuring an equal distri- 

 bution of clothing over the entire surface. 

 I would like to suggest to the patentee 

 that engravings of the garments would 

 greatly add to their sale and attractive- 

 ness. The women want to see what style 

 of clothing we are going to 

 make in these days of cheap patterns, 

 and hope the " C. C. C. Company" will 

 not only have cuts of both under-suit 

 and outside waist, but will advertise 

 tbcm largely with illustrations to lot the 

 ladies of California know what they are 

 like, as well as where they may bo ob- 

 tained, both patterns and made suits. 



A MoTHKR. 



The Cho-cho. 



This is a vegetable commonly cultivat- 

 ed in the island of Jamaica, and is evi- 

 dently the one referr<'d to in the Tampa 

 Gum-dian under the Spanish name of 

 Cliai/dle. There are tuo varieties- the 

 white and the green. The latter is the 

 better of the two, being more delicate. 

 They are about the size of a Cluster cu- 

 cumber — larger at one cud, and slightly 



tapering off. In the West Indies thi 

 are sometimes grown on arbors, but mor 

 frequently are planted at the root of a 

 tree. They grow very fast (several feet 

 in a night), and will cover the top of the 

 tree with vines, hanging down all around. 

 The vines bear profusely. One will fur- 

 nish a peck a day. So common are they 

 in Jamaica that they sell iu the country 

 at about 10 cents per peck. They will 

 thrive in any part of the Southern States, 

 for when the vines are killed by frost, 

 they only require to be cut off, and the 

 roots covered with straw, and in the 

 spring they will grow again. 



To cook them, first split in half, 

 lengthwise, and boil until quite tender; 

 butter, and sprinkle with black pepper; 

 or mash up like squash and treat iu the 

 same way. They are more delicate than 

 squash. Apple-sass can be made from 

 them by the addition of lemon juice and 

 sugar, so that we defy the greatest con- 

 noisseur to tell the dift'erence. They 

 should not be planted until they sprout, 

 and then plant with the sprout end slant- 

 ing downwards, and cover very light; in 

 fact, they hardly require to be covered at 

 all, only jjlaced below the surface, for, if 

 covered, they rot. The vine will last for 

 3'ears, bearing all summer. Those who 

 grow them can have apple pies without 

 apple trees, and no doubt they could be 

 cut up and dried for winter use the same 

 as apples. The cho-cho should not be 

 too old before used. If the finger nail 

 cannot penetrate they are unfit for food, 

 being too tough. — Florida Agricullurist . 



The Moon's Influence. 



The notion that the moon exerts an in- 

 fluence on weather is so deeply rooted 

 that, notwithstaiuling all the attacks 

 which have been made against it since 

 meteorology has been seriously studied, 

 it continues to retain its hold upon us. 

 And yet there never was a popular super- 

 stition more utterly \rithout a basis than 

 this one. If the moon did really possess 

 any power over weather, that power could 

 onl}- be exercised in one of three ways — 

 by reflection of the sun's rays, by attrac- 

 tion, or by emanation. No other form of 

 action is conceivable. Now, as the bright- 

 est light of a full moon is never equal in 

 intensity or quantity to that which is re- 

 flected toward us by a white cloud on a 

 summer day, it can scarcely be pretended 

 that weather is affected by such a cause. 

 That the moon does exert attraction on 

 us is manifest — we see its working in the 

 tides; but, though it can move water, it 

 is most unlikely that it can do the sa\jie 

 to air, for the specific gravity of the at- 

 mosphere is so small that there is noth- 

 ing to be attracted. Laplace, calculated, 

 indeed, that the joint attraction of the 

 sun and moon could not stir the at- 

 mosphere at a quicker rate than five miles 

 a day. As for lunar emanations, not a 

 sign of them has ever been discovered. 

 The idea of an influence produced by 

 the phases of the moon is therefore based 

 on no recognizable causa whatever. 

 Furthermore, it is now distinctly shown 

 that no variations at all really occur in 

 weather at the moment of the changes of 

 quarter, any more than at other ordinary 

 times. Since the establishment of mete, 

 orological stations all over the earth, it 

 has been proved by millions of observa- 

 tions that there is no simultancousness 

 whatever between the supposed cause 

 and the su)i))oscd efl'ect. The whole story 

 is a fancy and a superstition, which has 

 been handed down to us uncontrolled, 

 aud which we have accepted as it came 

 from our forefathers without questioning 

 for a reason. — E-r. 



