THE LEMON, LIME AND CITKON. 



87 



in thin layers in a dry, cool, well ventilat- 

 ed place and left anywhei-e from ten days 

 to ten weeks, as suits the convenience of 

 the grower. As the lemon ripens in mid- 

 winter, wh«n there is little call for acid 

 fruits, the advantages usually sought by 

 the producer is to keep his fruit as long as 

 possible before putting it upon the market. 



In Florida, where the atmosphere is 

 veiy humid, lemon producers have found 

 it an advantage in curing their fruit, to 

 fumigate it with sulphur to destroy the 

 germs of fungus. The process has been 

 tried here, but without satisfactory re- 



sults. In our dry climate there is proba- 

 bly no better way to cure lemons than to 

 arrange them so that they have shade and 

 a plenty of air. Dr. Congar advises 

 throwing the lemons in piles under the 

 trees and leaving them there ten days or 

 two weeks, when he says they will be 

 most perfectly cured. 



The most advanced shippers grade their 

 lemons carefully and wrap them in papers 

 for shipment. The packing boxes em- 

 ployed are the same as those used for or- 

 anges. 



CHAPTER VL 



THE BONNIE BRAE LEMON. 



I wish to call this variety into promi- 

 nent notice, both because I believe it to be 

 one of the finest lemons yet grown in Cal- 

 ifornia, raid because it is a stranger and 

 needs an introduction. My attention was 

 first called to the Bonnie Brae by a plate 

 of the fruit on exhibition in the Los An- 

 geles Citrus Fair of 1880. So different 

 was this fruit from other varieties of lem- 

 ons on display that people were at a loss 

 whether to class it as a lemon at all. The 

 cut presented herewith, showing a group 

 of Bonnie Brae lemons on a stem, is a cor- 

 rect representation, taken from life. The 

 fruit is from medium to small, somewhat 

 obl(mg, more abruptly rounded at the 

 ends than ordinary lemons and possess- 

 ing only slight protuberances at the blos- 

 som and stem ends. The texture of the 

 skin is as fine as a kid glove, and when 

 the lemon has seasoned a few days sligiit 

 longitudinal corrugations appear as shown 

 m the picture. The fruit is absolutely 

 beautiful to look upon. 



Various and repeated examinations have 

 convinced me that it is as good as it is 

 handsome. 



The Bonnie Brae was originated by Mr. 

 H. M. Higgins, of San Diego, from for- 

 eign seed. He contented himself, it seems, 

 with budding a nursery of one hundred 

 trees from the original stock, making no 

 great etfort to introduce the variety to 

 public attention. In 1883 I purchased 

 three of the trees from him, but, being- 



poorly packed for shipment and delayed 

 on the road, they were dried out and dead 

 when they reached me. I made an effort 

 to obtain others, but was too late, as Mr. 

 Higgins had parted with his entire re- 

 maining stock, sending them to his broth- 

 er in Lower California. In lieu of trees, 

 however, he forwarded to me some buds 

 from the original tree. These I passed 

 over to a nurseryman and had them in- 

 serted in orange stock. I was fortunate 

 enough to obtain therefrom one hundred 

 and twelve thrifty trees, which are now 

 growing on my place. 



Since my correspondence with Mr. Hig- 

 gins began, I have obtained two samples 

 of these lemons — one in 1883 and one in 

 1884— and have subjected them to every 

 test I could devise, with tJie most satis- 

 factory results. The average size of the 

 fruit is about eight inches in longitudinal 

 circumference. The most notable features 

 are its fine-textared skin, its bright color, 

 and its unusual weight. Divided with a 

 knife, the texture within is found to ful- 

 fill the promise of the exterior. The rind 

 is not above a sixteenth of an inch in 

 thickness, and when the lemon has been 

 allowed to season some time it reduces to 

 a mere wafer. The pulp is tender, melt- 

 ing and brimful of juice of fair acid char- 

 acter and rich flavor. The seeds, if any, 

 are few and small. In both years that I 

 tested the fruit I laid several lemons away 

 in a drawer, where they remained up- 



