76 



THE OBANGE, 



ally eaten instead of "sucked" as one is 

 tempted to do with the other softer or- 

 anges. 



The Mediterranean Sweet and the St. 

 Michael dispute precedence, according as 

 indivdual tastes differ in respect to size 

 and flavor; but the St. Michael seems to 

 have a greater firmness of flesh in its fav- 

 or. The refreshing acidity and peculiar 

 flavor of the Blood orange place it in a dif- 

 ferent category from the other three. 



The first six columns, however, furnish 

 food for additional consideration, especial- 

 ly when oranges are sold by the piece or 

 thousand and not by we^ht. The Medi- 

 terranean Sweet shows a slightly heavier 

 weight then the Navel, but the larger pro- 

 portion of pulp in the latter more then 

 makes up for tlie difference. Owing to an 

 accident, the proportion of juice to pulp 

 was not determined in the case of the 

 Mediterranean Sweet; in the Navel the 

 figures show it to have been about 59 

 per cent, whereas in the St. Micheals it 

 goes as high as 65.6, in the Malta to 66.3 

 per cent. The latter two are, therefore, 

 quite materially more juicy than the Navel, 

 hence more delicate in transportation. 



The St. Michaels show the highest per- 

 centage of pulp of all, notwithstanding the 

 relative abundance of seed; and hence a 

 given weight of this variety would furnish 

 the largest amount of eatable pulp,while if 

 bought per thousand, the light weight of 

 the fruit would leave the consumer mate- 

 rially "short" as compared with the Navel 

 or Mediterranean Sweet. Comparing the 

 earlier fruit with that analysed six weeks 

 later, there is in the case of both the Nav- 

 el and St. Micheal a decided decrease of 

 both sugar and acid ; exactly the reverse 

 of what would have been looked for, as 

 these ingredients might have been sup- 

 posed to be concentrated by evaporation. 

 There is therefore a true deterioration in 

 oranges kept beyond the point of proper 

 ripeness, that amply justifies the preference 

 of consumers for the freshest fruit. 



As regards the lemons, the comparison 

 between the Lisbon and Eureka tells 

 strongly in favor of the latter. It is larger 

 and has a higher percentage of pulp as 

 well as juice, while at the same time the 

 latter is considerably richer in citric 



acid. Assuming 7 per cent as the Usual 

 average, it will be noted that the Eureka 

 is nearly as much above it as the Lisbon 

 is below. The limes stand nearly at the 

 same point as the Lisbon, but show a con- 

 siderable higher proportion of pulp as 

 well as of juice then either of the two 

 lemons, being fully 13 per cent above the 

 Lisbon in the latter respect. 



While these comparisons will probably 

 hold good in general as between these 

 varieties, the absolute figures (percentages) 

 must be taken with allowance for the pe- 

 culiarity of the season of 1884, with its un- 

 usual rains and low temperature. A ref- 

 erence to the analy'Sis made in 1879 (see 

 the report of the College of Agriculture for 

 that year, pp. 59 and 60) shows a much 

 higher average of both sugar and acid for 

 the oranges and of acid for the lemons; 

 the proportion of pulp also seems to haye 

 been higher throughout. 



E. W. HlLGARD. 



Berkeley, May 22, 1885. 



ANALYSIS OF THE ORANGE. 



Composition of the ashes of the fruit: 

 Mineral 



Manure Compost. 

 Constituents, Per cent. Per cent. 



Potash 20.15 15.28 



Soda 10.22 12.14 



Lime 30.12 30.24 



Magnesia 9.02 8.10 



Phosphoric acid 20.04 18.24 



Sulphuric acid 1.08 4.14 



Silicic acid 4.50 5.82 



Oxide of iron 4.25 4.75 



Loss 0.62 1.29 



100.00 100.00 

 Ashes of the fruit 3.57 3.48 



Composition of the trunk, branches and 



leaves : 





Trunks and 







Branches 



Leaves, 





Per cent. 



Per cent, 





14.15 



10.18 





10.67 



10.82 





31.57 



41.22 





10.64 



6.53 





, , , 18.82 



19.47 





4.89 



4.53 





2.82 



5.48 





6.44 



1.77 





100.00 



100.00 







1.60 



Ashes of the leaves .... 



6.32 



6.20 



The orange trees above analyzed were 

 from Alcira, (Valencia), Spain. 



