2 BULLETIN 993, U. S. DEPARTMENT OE AGRICULTURE. 



At various times attempts have been made to utilize the culls 

 from the lemon industry. The first effort which was ultimately 

 successful was that of a company, organized in 1898, now manu- 

 facturing essential oils and citrate of lime. Another company, estab- 

 lished early in 1914, at present produces citric acid and essential oil. 

 Several smaller firms are making citric acid, citrate of lime, and 

 bottled lemon juice. As the history of the undertaking has been 

 treated by others (3) (4), it need not be considered further here. 



PURPOSE OF INVESTIGATION. 



So far as known, there has been no systematic attempt to study 

 the composition of the California lemon. Analyses of scattered 

 samples have been published, but no series of results from carefully 

 selected trees, where sampling was continued throughout the season, 

 has been reported. It is highly desirable that this information be 

 made accessible to the lemon grower, as well as to the lemon by- 

 product manufacturer, who is especially interested in the oil and 

 acid content of the fruit which he purchases. 



INVESTIGATIONAL WORK. 



METHOD OF SAMPLING. 



In a territory as extensive as the lemon-growing section of Califor- 

 nia, adequate sampling presents many difficulties. Since the number 

 of samples which can be examined is necessarily limited by the size 

 of the laboratory force and its facilities, care was taken to select 

 typical locations in each well-recognized growing district. In some 

 instances, circumstances prevented sampling, so that a small number 

 of centers are not adequately represented, and in a few cases certain 

 districts are more fully represented than was at first planned. In 

 all, satisfactory samples were taken in about 20 locations in the 

 following centers: Bonita, Chula Vista, Escondido, Whittier, Santa 

 Paula, Carpenteria, San Fernando, Glendora, San Dimas, and Clare- 

 mont. From other work conducted at the same time it was possible 

 to obtain data on fruit grown at Corona. 



The trees selected originally were such as to give an equal number 

 of locations of the Eureka and Lisbon varieties. Because of irregular 

 sampling, the final selections consist of 10 Eureka and 6 Lisbon 

 trees. The judgment of experienced growers was the deciding factor 

 in selecting typical trees. It is possible that some of the trees in- 

 cluded in the final results are not of the best strains, but, as many 

 groves of such trees exist in the State, the effectiveness of the data is 

 not materially impaired. 



Again, the number of fruits to each sample was a matter of con- 

 cern. Manifestly, the larger the number the better the chance of 

 satisfactorily representing the composition of the grove or district 



