106 ORANGE CULTURE IN CALIFORNIA. 



can be allowed to mature fully before picking and still be in 

 perfect condition, and they will keep long enough to bear trans- 

 portation to the most distant markets. In all other countries 

 they have to be picked green, or in a semi-green condition, to 

 be carried successfully to remote markets. Ours will keep 

 sound, when theirs, under the same conditions, would decay. 

 Ours can be ripened on the trees and will then keep for months ; 

 theirs must be shipped in an almost green condition, or not at 

 all. To pick a green orange is to do so at the expense of its 

 flavor; it will be tough and stringy, or will become so, and it 

 will be accompanied with a flat, insipid taste, always prevalent 

 with the Tahiti oranges of our markets. 



The peculiarities of our climate cool nights, absence of rain 

 during eight or nine months of the year, and the consequent 

 general dryness of the atmosphere prepare our oranges by a 

 natural process, while yet on the tree, for great keeping and 

 shipping qualities. 



The New York World, speaking of oranges, says : " To say 

 the fruit is perishable, as usually understood, is but an inade- 

 quate expression of the extent of that risk. No other production 

 is so perishable. Of about two hundred millions of oranges re- 

 ceived here last season from September until March nearly 

 eighty millions perished ; or forty per cent, of those received 

 from Mediterranean ports, and forty-six per cent, of those re- 

 ceived from the West Indies. The loss on a cargo of two hun- 

 dred thousand oranges from Dominica was one hundred and 

 fifty-nine thousand six hundred, or seventy-nine per cent. ; on 

 eleven cargoes from Mayaquez, comprising two millions six hun- 

 dred and fifty-four thousand five hundred and ninety oranges, 

 one million four hundred and five thousand one hundred and 

 twenty, or fifty-three per cent. ; and on a cargo of two hundred 

 and thirty thousand from Ocho Rios, two hundred and ten 

 thousand, or ninety-one per cent. In many cases the amounts 

 received from sales of cargoes were insufficient to pay for char- 

 ters of the vessels." 



In the event of an emergency, when prices rule too low, the 

 surplus can be profitably converted into wine or brandy, for 

 which there will probably be an unlimited demand, 



