ffrufts. 59 



and with the facilities of communication, I have no doubt that they 

 will become known and a taste will be developed for them in this 

 country. I will speak here only of such of our tropical fruits as come 

 to the United States. 



The advantage of tropical fruits growing in their proper zone and 

 climate is immense, as the expense of planting and cultivating them 

 outside of their proper limits is very great and there is always danger 

 of their destruction. 



Oranges. Orange trees, like any other fruit trees, depend in Mexico 

 on the rain, and, except in a private garden or private grounds, are not 

 irrigated. While the orange tree is a hardy plant, it thrives best and 

 yields the most luscious fruit in the tropics. Elevation exceeding 2500 

 feet is not, as a rule, desirable for orange culture. 



The advantages of irrigation in orange culture are great in the sub- 

 tropical regions of Mexico. The fruit of the irrigated orange tree is 

 of a very superior quality, while the tree itself has a longer lease of life 

 and is less subject to attacks from insects and diseases of a fungoid 

 nature. One of the conditions primarily requisite to the growing of a 

 marketable orange is that the trees be watered at judiciously regulated 

 intervals during and for a short time after the blossoming season. At- 

 tacks from insect and fungoidal pests, which are most disastrous, and 

 to which the trees are peculiarly subject during the blossoming period, 

 are rendered even more dangerous by the prevalence of a considerable 

 amount of humidity in the atmosphere which is always conducive to 

 the development of parasitic germs or fungoidal spores. An abund- 

 ance of moisture in the ground but a comparatively small amount in 

 the air is the condition most to be desired during and just after the 

 blossoming season. This is to be had by irrigation, but, generally 

 speaking, not without it. Under irrigation, the soil is also much less 

 subject to deterioration, owing to the superior fertilizing properties of 

 water taken from wells and streams. Rain water, aside from contain- 

 ing a small percentage of ammonia, which it receives from the air, only 

 .acts as a medium to transmit the nutriment from the soil to the tree, 

 while water taken from wells or streams holds in solution the renewing 

 materials which are directly communicated to the plant proper. 



In the more elevated orange districts of Mexico, the trees should be 

 watered about once every twenty days during the dry season. 



In some places our oranges are as sweet as if they had been preserved 

 in sugar, and this, notwithstanding the fact that no attention is paid 

 to their cultivation, that they grow almost wild, and without irrigation. 



I think that the distillation of orange blossoms would prove very 

 profitable. The production of flowers per tree is given at from 22 to 

 55 pounds in the case of sweet oranges, and from 60 to 100 pounds 

 per tree from the bitter variety. 



