THE LEMON. 85 



layer of old newspapers is placed on the topmost trays, to keep 

 the lemons therein from drying too fast and getting dusty. At 

 the end of another week, if the weather has not been damp, 

 they will be ready for packing, being yielding and leathery to 

 the touch ; they will also have turned yellow. Then they are 

 assorted into sizes and packed ; only those of the same size are 

 packed in the boxes by themselves. 



SULPHURING THE LEMON. 



Bleaching the lemon with sulphur fumes was extensively 

 experimented with. It had been claimed that fruit treated in 

 this way would keep an indefinite time, as the sulphurous gas 

 would toughen the skin and dry up the watery particles, and 

 that it would kill the fungoicls on the fruit. Lemons treated 

 in this way did not prove thus. As soon as they left the treat- 

 ing rooms they were noticed to be spotted, and by the exces- 

 sive use of sulphur some would be rendered white, while others 

 would still retain part of their color on one side, while the 

 other would be bleached to an unnatural color. This has been 

 abandoned. 



CURING COMMON SEEDLINGS. 



Three years ago a grower at San Gabriel, having an orchard 

 of one hundred and fifty large Seedling trees, experimented 

 for the purpose of testing their keeping qualities. He went 

 about it in a practical way : The fruit was stem cut with great 

 care, and laid carefully on straw under the trees away from the 

 direct rays of the sun. When they had shriveled enough to 

 allow handling, they were wiped dry and put into boxes, fill- 

 ing them one half full, and put into the packing house. About 

 three weeks after they were repacked, and all decayed lemons 

 found therein (about 50 per cent) thrown away; nothing but 

 apparently sound fruit was packed, and each one carefully 

 wrapped in tissue paper. Out of about one hundred boxes 

 picked, only fifty-two were shipped. They were shipped to 

 San Francisco, being on the way four days. Upon arrival it 

 was noticed that many were decaying. In order to be sold 

 they had to compete with well-cured lemons, as the market was 



