1 72 Oranges and Lemons of India. 



American wheat, so might, not impossibly, Indian 

 oranges, of a dozen different varieties, compete 

 favourably with Florida, Trinidad, and Brazil oranges. 



Excluding Europe, however, there is looming in 

 the distance an opening for an extensive trade in the 

 oranges and lemons of India. The Russians are 

 hurrying on their railways from the North, and the 

 British from the South-east. These two railway 

 systems must meet sooner or later, because it will 

 probably be the interest of both empires to make 

 them meet. When that time comes, the orange and 

 lemon trade of India should receive a great impetus. 

 The Russians are great tea-drinkers, and their favourite 

 mode of drinking tea is with a slice of lemon with 

 sugar, and the hot tea poured over them, without the 

 use of milk. This Russian mode of drinking tea is 

 extremely nice, especially in the hot weather. Now 

 supposing each Russian used one lemon per day, it 

 can easily be seen what a vast number Russia would 

 consume. The Central Asians are also great tea- 

 drinkers, and they will not be slow in adopting the 

 Russian mode of drinking tea with a slice of lemon ; 

 so that the future prospects of the lemon trade of 

 India are not at all bad. 



But, again, leaving the foreign trade entirely out of 

 the question as chimerical, there is no reason why the 

 internal trade in oranges and lemons all over India 

 should not be largely developed ; and there appears 

 no good reason why with management the supply of 

 oranges should not be kept up from December to 

 July, considering the many fine varieties that India 

 possesses. Then some sort of sour lemon, lime or 

 orange should be procurable all the year round. In 

 Italy the time lemons are most used is in the summer, 

 for making granlta, or iced lemonade. And there is 



