1838 



LEMON 



LENOPHYLLUM 



and in the western corner of San Bernardino. In this 

 region the cool, moist summer climate causes the trees 

 to bear a larger proportion of high-priced summer fruit. 

 In the hot interior valleys some lemons are produced 

 also; but while the trees will grow just as well under 

 desert conditions, the fruit tends to mature mostly in 

 the winter when the price is low. The fruit itself under 

 such conditions is shorter-lived and will not keep so long 

 nor ship so well as that produced near the coast. 



Lemons are picked from ten to twelve times a year, 

 each lemon being removed from the tree when it has 

 reached a certain size, namely 2J4 inches in diameter. 

 Each picker carries an iron ring of the above diameter 

 and removes every fruit which will not pass through it, 

 regardless of whether the lemon is ripe and yellow or 

 perfectly green. Great care is taken to avoid the 

 slightest abrasion of the skin. The stems are clipped off 

 even with the "button," and the fruit is handled only 

 in gloved hands and canvas picking-bags. The largest 

 pickings are ready in the winter from December 1 to 

 March 1, and as this is the time when the price of 

 lemons is low, it is necessary to defer picking the main 

 crop till March and April and to store an immense 

 amount of fruit, holding it until the high prices of sum- 

 mer prevail. Sometimes seventy-five or one hundred 

 carloads of lemons are stored in one house and held for 

 three to six months. The smallest pickings come in the 

 summer from June 1 to October 1, at a time when 

 the price is the highest. It is necessary, therefore, to 

 subject the green lemons to such an artificial treat- 

 ment as will result in a good color in the shortest time 

 possible. Thus the lemon-grower has two problems: 

 one is to be able to retard respiration and the ripening 

 process as much as possible and the other to accelerate 

 these same processes. 



For the process of spring storage, large houses are 

 provided which are so constructed as to admit of per- 

 fect control of ventilation. On the storage-floor, there 

 are a number of suspended canvas tents, each tent 

 accommodating one carload of fruit. When the fruit is 

 brought from the orchard, it is washed in a solution of 

 one-fiftieth of 1 per cent of copper sulfate in water and 

 piled loosely in boxes which are stacked under the tents. 

 During moist, foggy weather the tents are raised and 

 free circulation of air permitted. Should a dry, hot 

 wind from the desert prevail, the tents are kept closed 

 as tightly as possible in order to retard evaporation. 



Lemons picked in September, however, after being 

 run through the copper sulfate solution, are removed to 

 a small fireproof building known as a sweat-house. 

 The sweat-house usually has several rooms, each room 

 accommodating one carload of fruit. The fruit is 

 stacked in these rooms in the picking-boxes, the green- 

 est and most immature in the rear and the lightest- 

 colored fruit next the door. The room is then closed 

 tightly and several kerosene stoves are burned in a 

 basement below. Pans of water are kept on the stoves 

 and the gases arising pass through cracks in the floor 

 into the fruit-room. These gases consist of a mixture 

 of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and water vapor. 

 The temperature of the room is held as near 90 as pos- 

 sible and is regulated by the number of burners under 

 the room. Great care is taken to keep the atmosphere 

 saturated with moisture. Lemons are artificially 

 colored in this manner in three to six days, depending 

 on the depth of the green color in the rind. 



The curing process causes the lemons to shrink in 

 size slightly and the rind becomes thinner, more pliable, 

 with a texture and general finish greatly desired by the 

 market. During the whole process of picking and 

 curing lemons they are handled very much more care- 

 fully than oranges. The grading and sizing is done 

 almost entirely by hand, the washing-machine being 

 the only bit of machinery through which lemons are 



For many years the lemon business in California did 



not flourish. Until fifteen years ago, California lemons 

 had a very bad reputation for decay in the eastern 

 markets, and perhaps justly. California growers did 

 not possess the knowledge and the skill necessary for 

 successful handling. One of the most serious troubles of 

 those days was the brown-rot, which not only destroyed 

 a third or more of the lemons on each tree in the orchard, 

 but continued its ravages in the storage-house. The 

 nature of this and many of the other troubles is now 

 well understood and control methods systematized. 

 The business has been readjusted to conditions until 

 the old bad reputation has been lived down and by 1912 

 California lemons were selling steadily in the New York 

 City auction at a premium over the European product. 



On account of the peculiar troubles to which the 

 lemon is susceptible, the expenses of production are 

 greater than in the case of the orange. Until recently 

 the increased tariff has to some extent offset this 

 difference and at present the acreage of bearing lemons 

 is being increased very rapidly. 



Practically all varieties of any value in the Old 

 World were introduced into California and tested out 

 in the early days. Most of them, however, were not 

 suited to our climatic conditions. Fifteen years ago 

 the list had been reduced to six, namely the Eureka, 

 Lisbon, Villa Franca, Genoa, Bonnie Brae and Messina. 

 Five years ago the list had shrunk to three varieties, the 

 Eureka, Lisbon and Villa Franca. Today the Eureka is 

 practically the only variety widely planted, although 

 there are many old orchards of the other varieties 

 still in bearing. The Eureka is a seedling which origi- 

 nated in Los Angeles. During the years of its propaga- 

 tion it has split up into several strains, some of which are 

 very much more desirable than others. The best strain 

 of Eureka is precocious, vigorous, prolific, thornless 

 and almost seedless. The chief objections to the 

 Eureka are its habit of throwing out long, ungainly 

 branches which fruit on their ends, and the thinness of 

 the foliage in the springtime which allows a good many 

 lemons to sunburn. 



While the orange requires only a medium amount of 

 pruning, the lemon tree demands almost constant 

 attention. The young tree should be regularly pinched 

 back and built up wholly of short, stocky branches, 

 strong enough to bear a heavy load. All growth is cut 

 off at some arbitrary level, at 8 to 10 feet from the 

 ground. A great many vigorous young shoots will 

 arise from the top and should be removed twice each 

 year, once in the spring and again in late summer. In 

 addition to this, many of the large growers keep a gang 

 of expert pruners occupied the year round cutting out 

 the weak and decadent branches and thinning the 

 fruiting brush. One experienced pruner working con- 

 tinuously will care for 25 to 40 acres of Eureka lemons, 

 and a somewhat less amount of Lisbons, which are 

 very thorny and not easily handled, j ELIOT COIT. 



LEMON VERBENA: Lippia. 

 LEMON VINE: Pereskia. 

 LEMONIA: Ravenia; see Limonia. 



LENOPHYLLUM (trough leaf). Crassulacex . A 

 genus established by J. N. Rose in 1904 for Sedum 

 guttatum and other species: perennial herbs branching 

 at the base: Ivs. a few opposite pairs clustered near 

 the base, very thick and somewhat flattened and more 

 or less concave on upper surface: fls. yellow (or dry- 

 ing reddish) in an erect infl. or solitary; sepals 5, equal, 

 nearly distinct; petals erect, distinct, spreading or 

 recurved at top; stamens 10: carpels narrow and erect. 

 Species about a half-dozen, Mex. and Texas. They 

 are tufted plants a few inches high, to be treated like 

 cotyledons or echeverias. L. guttatum, Rose, and L. 

 Wdnbergii, Brit., are the names most likely to appear; 

 both are Mexican. L. H. B. 



