CHAPTER XXXII. 



Citrons, 



The preserved citron peel of commerce is manufactured, as 

 its name implies, from the rind of the fruit of the citron tree. 



The tree grows to perfection in this State in localities in 

 which there are no heavy frosts. It is a good bearer, and the 

 fruit is very large, some specimens weighing as much as four 

 pounds and having a diameter of some four inches, but with a 

 small pulp, three -fourths of the fruit being rind. 



Many futile attempts have been made to preserve the peel, 

 the difficulty having been in the extraction of the bitter prop- 

 erties from the rind. A firm in San Francisco have recently 

 succeeded, however, in preparing a first-class article, and have 

 advertised for all the citrons that can be produced, and at re- 

 munerative figures. 



It is propagated from cuttings, which gro tv readily and thriftily, 

 producing fruit in two or three years. The tree is but a shrub, 

 as compared with the orange or lemon. It has a dwarfish, un- 

 gainly habit of growth. 



Los Angeles Commercial: "For many years our orchardists 

 have cultivated the citron, with the desire and belief that some 

 individual or firm would be found capable of utilizing them for 

 commercial purposes. But many seasons passed without any 

 encouraging demand. The growers became discouraged and 

 gradually neglected their trees ; some, indeed, unfortunately up- 

 rooted them. We are now about to hold forth the olive branch 

 of promise, and a happy moment it is for us. We are authorized 

 to state that a San Francisco firm, Messrs. James, Parisen & 

 Co., have succeeded in preparing California citron, orange and 

 lemon peel in so satisfactory a manner as to compare favorably 



