Uses and Commercial Products of the Citrus. 141 



The most useful sour citrus for domestic purposes 

 are, perhaps, the limes, when only a small squeeze of 

 juice is wanted. When, however, a larger quantity of 

 juice is needed, the Malta or Sicilian lemon is prefer- 

 able ; moreover, its juice is of a purer acid. I have 

 been told that a Malta lemon does not give so much 

 juice as a kaghzi-nimboo. In August I compared the 

 quantity of juice of a small Malta lemon with that of 

 the largest lime. Each gave a little less than half a 

 wine-glass of juice ; a large Malta lemon gave a full 

 wine-glass of juice. The rind of the Malta lemon, 

 moreover, is the best for flavouring sweet dishes. A 

 ring of the outer fresh rind, stirred in with custard 

 while on the fire, and taken out before serving, is 

 enough to flavour a bowl-full. Then the Kumaon 

 lemon or gulgul, is very useful, when a still larger 

 amount of juice is wanted at one time. 



If the cultivation of lemons and limes in India 

 should at any time become so extensive as to make the 

 fresh fruit of little value, I need hardly say that citric 

 acid can be manufactured from their juice, both for 

 pharmaceutical purposes and for aerated waters, of 

 which the consumption in India must be enormous. 

 At present, so-called aerated lemonades do not deserve 

 that name. They are, in most cases, if not in all, really 

 tartarades, or, perhaps, sulphurades. Tartaric acid, 

 being much cheaper than citric acid, is largely used for 

 making these so-called lemonades. Sulphuric acid, 

 largely diluted, is often, I think, also used for the same 

 purpose, I have no means of ascertaining how much 

 citric and tartaric acid are imported for this pur- 

 pose, but there can be little doubt that if citric acid 

 could be manufactured cheaply in India, the genuine 

 lemon and lime acid would be largely used for lemon- 

 ades. It might be manufactured also from all sour 



