108 ORANGE CULTURE IN CALIFORNIA. 



took with him were placed on the table of the agricultural editor 

 of the New York Tribune. The fruit looked almost or quite as 

 fresh as on the day of his departure, and elicited a handsome 

 editorial relative to the fruit and the place of its production. 



The delay in New York made the time to Europe forty-nine 

 days forty days through tropical heat before the last of it was 

 used. No especial care had been taken to preserve the fruit, 

 yet none had decayed and been thrown out. 



It was almost incredible to the ladies and gentlemen who par- 

 took of the full-flavored and nice-looking oranges in London- 

 derry, Ireland, and Edinburgh, Scotland, that the delicate and 

 luscious samples had come nine thousand miles, and had been 

 seven weeks in transit, but the fact was indisputable. 



The following tribute to the excellence of the oranges raised 

 by Mr. L. J. Rose, an extensive horticulturist of Sunny Slope, 

 Los Angeles county, is from the New York Evening Post: 



"Messrs. Perkins and Stern, who deal in California wines, 

 have sent us a sample of another product of that fertile region, 

 namely, of the oranges raised at the Sunny- Slope plantation at 

 Los Angeles. [San Gabriel Mission, eleven miles east of the 

 City of Los Angeles.] They are of remarkable fineness, and of 

 a flavor which, without possessing the saccharine sweetness of 

 the Havana oranges, is even more rich, and, in consequence of 

 the blending of its sweetness with a little acidity, is more agree- 

 able. In comparing it with the Indian river orange from the 

 eastern shore of Florida, it is perceived that it is a little inferior 

 to it not in the flavor of its juices, but in this peculiarity: the 

 Indian river fruit has the membranes and cells of the inner part 

 of a more delicate texture, and which are more easily broken 

 by the teeth, so that no part is rejected even by the most deli- 

 cate masticator. We may boast that the world produces no 

 finer oranges than the United States. The Bildah orange, in 

 the northern part of Africa, has a great reputation, but it is not 

 so fine as the Indian river orange. The oranges of Tyre, of 

 Sidon and Jaffa are peculiarly fine in size and quality, but they 

 do not excel, in either respect, those of Los Angeles." 



From the Semi- Tropic California, Chas. R. Coleman, editor. 



