THE LEMON, LIME AND CITKON. 



83 



growers of Florida, Louisiana, and Cali- 

 fornia. 



" The foreign lemon, always command- 

 ing the highest price in the San Francisco 

 market, was adopted by the committee as 

 a standard of comparison for the lemons 

 grown in Southern California. 



" Freshly imported specimens were se- 

 cured from Messina, Malaga and Paler- 

 mo, direct from Boston, through the lib- 

 erality of Mr. H. B. Everest, and Messi- 

 n as from Messrs. Dalton fe Gray, of San 

 Francisco, the latter having been picked 

 some six months. All the specimens were 

 in good condition. 



" The lemons of Southern 'California 

 were from all the important fruit-growing 

 districts of this section, and from the fact 

 that they were picked about the same 

 time and cured in the same manner, the 

 collection was the best in its average ap- 

 pearance and quality ever placed upon 

 exhibition in the State. 



"The following table shows the result 

 of theanalyses: 





" The following points were adopted as a 

 basis of comparison with the foreign lem- 

 ons: 



"First Appearance, including size of 

 lemon and quality of rind. 



" Second Bitterness. 



"Third Percentage of acidity. 



" FIRST APPEARANCE, ETC. A lemon 

 weighing about three ounces, when cured, 

 of a bright golden color, with a smooth, 

 soft rind, seems to be the favorite in the 

 markets; and in all these respects the com- 

 mittee were unanimous in the opinion 

 hat the budded lemons on exhibition for 



Southern California were fully equal to 

 the best imported. 



14 The Sweet Rinds and most of the Seed- 

 lings, with an occasional Lisbon and 

 Eureka, were above the standard size and 

 weight. This will nearly always occur 

 when the fruit is permitted to hang longer 

 upon the tree than is necessary to mature 

 it for market. 



" It was noticed in the examination that 

 the lemons of Santa Barbara, Ventura, 

 Los Angeles, Anaheim and San Diego 

 were nearly globular in form, and all hav- 

 ing a smooth, morocco-like texture of the 

 rind, while those of the same varieties 

 found in San Gabriel and Pasadena were 

 more elongated in form and not as smooth, 

 and those of Riverside and vicinity were 

 still more elongated and rougher in rind 

 a marked difference that must, in the 

 opinion of the committee, be attributed to 

 the differences in the temperature and hu- 

 midity of the atmosphere in the localities 

 named. 



"It is noticeable that the smoothness 

 and thinness of rind indicate greater quan- 

 tity of juice, owing to the better develop- 

 ment and cured state of the lemon. The 

 extreme size does not show its proportion- 

 al quantity of juice, but the medium sizes 

 show the best averages. 



" SECOND BITTERNESS. A bitter lemon 

 is worthless for market purposes, and to 

 the fact that so many of the Seedling lem- 

 ons of California are bitter, is to be attrib- 

 uted, to a great extent, the low value of 

 this lemon in the San Francisco markets. 



"The test for bitterness, as adopted by 

 the committee, was much more severe 

 than that required of the lemon in ordi- 

 nary use; yet the result was an exceeding- 

 ly favorable one for the best budded vari- 

 eties of our lemons. 



"Out of forty-eight samples tested, thir- 

 ty were entirely free from bitterness; 

 seven showed only a trace, and eleven 

 were decidedly bitter. 



" We think, from this showing, it will 

 not be difficult for our fruit growers to 

 eliminate all traces of- bitterness from the 

 fruit grown here. To do this successfully 

 the causes must be thoroughly under- 

 stood, and the remedies, well known, as 

 thoroughly applied. 



"As a foundation for further and more 



