414 FKUIT CULTURE IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES. 



months being very heavy. When raiu falls, the growth of the tree and 

 fruit is attained. Irrigation not practiced. 



Oultivation. — Plowing during rainy season. No fertilizers used. 



Pruning. — Not resorted to. 



Picking. — Picked in the dry season, June and July, mainly, and 

 picked half ripe for export, but ripe for home consumption. 



PacMng and shipping. — Packed loose, and shipped to Pern and Ohili 

 exclusively. 



Planting. — Distance planted apart 12 feet ; propagated by seed ; none 

 but seedlings. The orchards are small. 



Maturity. — Age of fruiting begin at five years ; age of largest crops 

 at ten years ; maturity of trees ten years. 



Insect pests. — There is an injurious insect pest known as the Pulgon, 

 which kills the tree. 



LEMONS. 



PicTcing. — The lemon is small, and is picked green both for home con- 

 sumption and for export, and ripens after it is gathered. There is no 

 method of curing. They are picked in the dry season, mainly in June 

 and July. 



Curing. — There is no particular process; the fruit is handled, both in 

 gathering, stowing, and shipping, by hand. 



Yield. — The best information I can get is that the yield of the orange 

 is about 1,.500,000 per annum, the price being about 80 cents Sucre,* or, 

 say, CO cents gold, per 100. 



It is practically impossible to get the yield of the lemon. There is 

 exported about GO boxes of 500 each, and the price is about 300 sucre 

 or $2.10 tTuited States gold per box. 



William B. Soesby, 



Consul- Qetieral. 

 United States (Jonsulate-Geneeal, 



Guayaquil, March 10, 1890. 



ECUADOR. 



MEFOBT BT CONSUL BEACH, OF OUATAQUIL. 

 (RepubliNbed from Consular Reports, No, 41^.) 



Notwithstanding its very restricted domain, it is probable that no 

 country in the world possesses so great a ^•ariation of climate as 

 Ecuador, which ranges from the tenii)erature of perpetual snow to that 

 of perpetual summer, neither essentially changing with the alternations 

 of the seasons. The ice and snow at all rimes cover the summits of 

 Ohimborazo and other mountains of great altitude, while in the lower 

 sections the mercury ranges between (»5o and 85°. 



'The HRcro iatlm nuini'tavy unit, of Eouador. 



