PREFACE. 



I 



I 



The closing decades of the nineteenth century have 

 seen great changes in the principles of citrus fruit culture 

 in America. Twenty years ago the amount of fruit pro- 

 duced was comparatively small, now the industry has at- 

 tained a place among the large horticultural industries of 

 this country. Then, at most, a few hundred boxes of fruit 

 were produced annually; now the crop is counted not by 

 hundreds but by millions of boxes. The pomelo was scarce- 

 r known and the lemon was a fruit imported almost en- 

 tn^ly from the Old World. Then, the means of transporta- 

 tion closed many a desirable tract of land through which 

 the railroad now runs and from which large quantities of 

 fruit are now shipped. Then, the methods of combating 

 insects and fungous diseases were less perfectly under- 

 stood than now. In those days, the fertilizers applied to 

 the soil were mostly made at home, now the nitrogen, phos- 

 phorus and potash, deemed so essential for the production 

 of first-class fruit, in many districts, can be obtained as 

 commercial commodities in any market. Numerous de- 

 vices are now successfully employed in protecting trees 

 and fruit against the effects of frost and freeze, then, noth- 

 ing of the kind was attempted or in fact deemed neces- 

 sary. Then, cover crops were not considered in the light in 

 which they now are. Then, the citrus industry in the New 

 rld was more or less firmly linked to that of the Old.' 

 we have an American industry on the large, broad 

 American progress. 



