60 Geograpbical motes on 



In flavor and productiveness the Mexican orange is unsurpassed. 

 In the majority of the districts but little care or attention is given to 

 the cultivation of the trees. Scientific orange culture in Mexico is 

 practically unknown. The introduction from other countries of dif- 

 ferent varieties of the plant for experimental purposes is just being 

 commenced. 



The price of oranges in Mexico at the present time, in districts 

 reasonably near lines of transportation, is about $n per thousand, 

 Mexican money, on the tree. It is the practice of the producer to sell 

 the fruit on the trees, the buyer picking, packing, and shipping it at his 

 own expense. 



About one hundred trees are usually set out to the acre, the average 

 yield being from 800 to 1000 oranges to the tree. I know of trees in 

 Mexico which have a record of having produced 10,000 oranges. This,, 

 however, is very exceptional. 



A properly cultivated and prudently managed grove at the end of 

 five years' growth should prove as profitably as a coffee plantation of 

 the same size, at the end of five years. 



The production of the orange trees begins in the third or fourth year 

 and increases up to the twelfth, and, in some cases, to the fifteenth or 

 sixteenth year. It is considered best to cut the fruit up to the fifth 

 year, not permitting it to mature. 



A book prepared by Frederico Atristain, entitled Cultivo y explota- 

 >cion de Naranja, and published by the Department of Fomento of the 

 Mexican Government, contains a great deal of reliable information on 

 the subject of orange culture in Mexico. 



After an orange tree has been yielding sweet oranges for many years, 

 it very likely exhausts the substances of the earth which give the sweet 

 taste to the fruit, and it begins to lose its sweetness, until finally, if the 

 land is not manured, as is almost always the case in Mexico, the oranges 

 become bitter. 



A recent cyclone, which lowered considerably the temperature in 

 Florida, destroyed in one day, I understand, about 12,000,000 orange 

 trees, thus causing ruin or serious loss to thousands of men engaged 

 in that large industry, while the orange region in Mexico is entirely 

 free from frosts and consequently from such dangers. 



Lemons. In the hot and temperate regions of Mexico lemons grow 

 very well. There are some districts of the country, like Soconusco, 

 where the natives plant the lemon trees very close together, for the 

 purpose of making a hedge or fence, and, notwithstanding that the trees 

 have not the necessary conditions of sunlight and air for their proper 

 development, they grow very well. I do not know of any place in 

 Mexico where lemons have been cultivated for commercial purposes ;, 

 but I am sure they could be made a very lucrative industry. 



