CHAPTER I. 

 INTRODUCTION. 



COMMERCIAL STATUS OF CITRUS CULTURE. 



From their home in the Malay Archipelago, where all 

 our cultivated forms of citrus probably had their origin, 

 they have spread throughout the world and are now grown 

 in groves or orchards wherever soil and climatic condi- 

 tions have been found suitable. Introduced into the Ameri- 

 can continent at an early date, they found in Brazil and 

 other parts of South America, in the West Indies, in Flor- 

 ida and in California, a congenial home where they have 

 maintained their foothold to the present day. 



For many years, however, they were grown only in a 

 small way. The means of transportation were so inade- 

 quate and the methods of handling the product so crude, 

 that but little of the fruit found its way outside of the 

 immediate regions in which it was produced. 



The oranges and lemons used in America in those days 

 were, mostly imported from abroad. They came largely 

 from the Mediterranean and even up to within very recent 

 years nearly all our lemons were procured from Italy. 

 Large importations are still made, but they have by no 

 means kept pace with the increase in population. Citrus 

 fruit culture has been gradually extending in America 

 until at the present time the greater portion of these fruits 

 consumed in this country is home grown. 



The development of the lemon industry in California 

 has been quite phenomenal and the place secured in the 

 markets by the Florida pomelo, a comparatively new fruit 

 commercially, is equally noteworthy. The successful pro- 



