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TWENTY-EIGHTH FRUIT-GROWERS J CONVENTION. 



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

 after extensive and expensive experience along the old lines I assert 

 " that it is entirely impractical to hold lemons in large quantities, for any 

 great length of time, by the old method. We have all been on the wrong 

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

 lation is right, the temperature will take care of itself. I have often 

 said that the proper keeping point for lemons is just that point between 

 where they will wilt and where they will sweat. 



The Limoneira Company of Santa Paula was the first to equip a house 

 on the open-air plan, and as that company has the most extensive plant 

 and the widest experience in this method, perhaps a description of its 

 lemon house and its methods may be of interest. 



To begin with, the lemons are very carefully picked, great care being 

 taken in handling so as not to bruise the fruit. Rings 2^ inches in 

 diameter are used for winter picking and 2^ inches for spring and 

 summer, never more than six weeks being allowed to elapse between 

 pickings, and the fruit is usually picked about once a month. By careful 

 attention to this, desirable sizes and good keeping stock are obtained. I 

 want to say right here that this is the weak point of over 90 per cent of 

 the lemon-growers of California. I have just returned from a tour of 

 the principal lemon-growing sections of the State, and I found, as I 

 have always found, that the carelessness with which picking is done is 

 almost criminal. In grove after grove which I visited at least 50 per 

 cent of the value had been lost by allowing the fruit to hang on the 

 tree too long. Not only on account of large sizes would it have to be 

 discounted 50 cents per box, but the keeping quality of the lemon which 

 is allowed to mature on the tree is never good. Good results can not be 

 obtained, even by the best methods of keeping lemons, unless the fruit 

 is picked at the proper time and carefully handled. A little illustration 

 will, perhaps, be in point. 



Some time ago I visited one of our Southern California packing-houses, 

 and they happened to be getting out a car of lemons at the time. I noted 

 the rough, careless manner with which the fruit was being handled, and 

 spoke to the manager about it, remarking that our fruit would not stand 

 that kind of treatment, and asked him if he did not have trouble with 

 decay. His reply w 7 as that they had practically no decay, and that 

 their fruit was giving fine satisfaction. Before leaving, I took note of 

 the car number and watched it in my bulletin. When the car arrived 

 East, 25 per cent decay was reported. 



The Limoneira Company's house is 300 by 100 feet. The flooring is 

 2-inch planking, and the roof is covered with gravel paper roofing. 

 The building has no sides whatever, allowing free circulation of air. 

 The fruit for storage is put into regular shipping boxes, piled in blocks 

 of 560 boxes. There is a double row of these blocks on either side of a 



