89 



It may ^3e said at once that no particularly low temperature is 

 required, and that as the question of cold storag-e on farms is not 

 possible, it need not be discussed. Some of the cool wine cellars to be 

 found in the Western Province of the Cape are well adapted for the 

 storage of the lemon, the only drawback likely to occur being lack of 

 ventilation; if this could be suitably provided by the installation of 

 electric fans or any other method of circulation of the air, the Western 

 Province producer of lemons would be well situated for the curing of 

 his crop. 



The stacking of the boxes of fruit just as they come from the 

 orchard, one on the other, is practically all that would be required; 

 it is, of course, understood that these boxes should be of regulation 

 pattern, and afiord opportunities for the air to pass both above and 

 below the fruit. Lemons in boxes, stacked one on the other, without 

 cleats of some kind between, cannot be expected to keep. 



The first method in use in the storage of lemons in South Africa 

 was that of placing the fruit in boxes and stratifying with dry, clean 

 sand, i.e. a layer of sand at the bottom of the box and then a layer of 

 fruit, and so on alternately until the box was full. Lemons keep fairly 

 well under these conditions, crude though they are. 



The principal objects to be secured in the curing of the lemon 

 are the even colouring, toughening and thinning of the skin so that 

 the fruit will keep and carry any distance in reason. If this can be 

 done, the large lemon crop ripening in July could be held and supplied 

 for use through the summer months when prices are at their best. 



Methods in California. 



As the bulk of the lemons produced here do not come from the 

 Western Province of the Cape, it may be as well to indicate -the 

 methods in use in California, where climatic conditions are somewhat 

 similar as regards temperature, though not in the matter of rainfall. 

 This, in those districts of South Africa which produce lemons, apart 

 from the Western Province, takes place in our summer, when the 

 young fruit is on the trees, whereas in California what rain falls comes 

 during the winter months. It follows, therefore, that we are able to 

 handle the lemon crop during that portion of the year which is most 

 favourable for the purpose — the days are bright, clear, and com- 

 paratively cool, and the air crisp and dry — conditions which are 

 admittedly ideal for handling citrus fruits of all kinds, and it may 

 also be said here that they are unequalled in any country in the world. 



A Lemon Grov^^ee's Experience. 



The following is the experience of Mr. Teague, one of the largest 

 lemon growers in California : — 



" Proper ventilation is the keynote of success in keeping lemons, 

 and after extensive and expensive experience along the old lines, 

 Mr. Teague concludes that lemon handlers have been on the wrong 

 track in believing a low temperature first in importance. If the 

 ventilation is right the temperature will take care of itself. He 

 decided that proper conditions for keeping lemons lie just between the 

 points where they wilt and where they sweat, including neither, if 

 possible, for too much moisture induces decay and too little causes 

 shrivelling. The fragment of the stem left on the fruit by the'culter 



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