THE LEMON IN CALIFORNIA — TREATMENT. 203 



little handling, if any, before shipping. The less handling the 

 better. As much fruit as the trade will take at fair prices 

 should be marketed during the winter. The matter of the 

 desirability of winter marketing will have to be governed by 

 the outlook for the coming summer and the supply. 



" What effect a heavy rain or an irrigation has on the keep- 

 ing qualities of fruit picked immediately after, is a disputed 

 question. Ordinarily no harm can come by waiting, and good 

 may. 



" The important points regarding the question of storing 

 are, we think, fairly well covered, so far as our experience goes, 

 and they are: Experience in picking the lemons at their proper 

 maturity and size; the greatest care and tenderness in hand- 

 ling them in all the processes of storage and marketing; keep- 

 ing them in an even temperature of from 60° to 70°, and 

 frequent change of air in the storage house and apartments; 

 and individual holdings." 



A. J. Everest, manager of the Everest orchards at Riverside, 

 in the "California Fruit Grower" of November 25, 1895, 

 describes his method of picking, curing, and packing lemons 

 for shipment, as follows: 



" We pick our lemons whenever they are large enough, with- 

 out regard to color, preferably while green or slightly turned, 

 taking care that no fruit smaller than the 300 size to the box 

 is picked, as the fruit shrinks some in curing, and thus increases 

 the number to the box. We have used rings to determine the 

 size, but find it too much trouble to try a ring on each lemon, 

 and now give each packer a lemon of the proper size, and let 

 him continually compare his picking. 



"After being picked we haul the lemons to the shed, and 

 pile them up in the picking-boxes for two or three weeks, or 

 until most of the moisture is dried out, before placing them in 

 the curing-house. We then wrap the lemons separately in tissue 

 paper and lay them on trays one layer deep, having previously 

 graded the fruit. We then store them in our curing-house, 

 which is made with double walls, filled in with sawdust to keep 

 the room at an even temperature. We have ventilators in 

 ceiling and floor of room, and regulate amount of fresh air 

 and temperature by them, allowing temperature to stand from 

 56° to 60° as a rule. 



" Storage curing-trays are about three inches deep, with a 

 cleat on each end, thus raising them up to allow the air to 



