CALIFORNIA CITRUS CULTURE. 97 



may be found at all seasons of the year. A well cared for grove will 

 furnish fruit once a month. The lemon is more prolific than the orange, 

 although the lemon is less tender to cold than is the citron, yet it is 

 more susceptible than is either the pomelo or the orange. It is easily 

 propagated from seeds or cuttings, but is best secured by budding on 

 strong stock, either of sweet or sour orange, which is necessary to 

 secure the improved varieties. Sour stock is now in the ascendancy 

 in both Europe and America. It is more than probable that by using 

 selected buds exclusively very superior trees could be secured. 



Some years since a hard freeze in some sections not only injured the 

 fruit, but also the trees not a little. This was a severe setback to 

 lemon culture and many groves were budded to Valencia oranges. Soon 

 lemons advanced in price and now the lemon orchard is as profitable as 

 the orange, or indeed, as any other of our common fruits. Mr. C. C. 

 Teague of Santa Paula gives the following from his large experience : 

 "For successful and profitable lemon growing there are five great 

 essentials climate, proper soil, abundance of water for irrigation, root- 

 stocks suited to the particular soil, and a thorough knowledge of the 

 business of lemon growing. A most thorough and exhaustive investiga- 

 tion by the Citrus Protective League of California of the cost of pro- 

 ducing lemons in California has shown that it is about one dollar and 

 a quarter per box, or one and a half cents per pound greater than it is 

 in Italy or Sicily, when the cheaper labor and cheaper transportation 

 abroad are considered as factors in this cost. It is this difference in 

 cost of production between the foreign and domestic lemon that justifies 

 and makes necessary the- present duty of one and a half cents per 

 pound." 



Of the many varieties of lemons only three, the Lisbon, Eureka, 

 and Villa Franca, have been much planted in California. The first two 

 are now the favorites, and no others are desired by our most successful 

 growers. 



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