66 



TWENTY-EIGHTH FRUIT-GROWERS' CONVENTION. 



fruit in transit, it is certainly not good practice to put it in cold storage 

 after it arrives in the East. 



Second — To be successful in the lemon business means eternal vigi- 

 lance as to care in handling so as not to bruise the fruit. When we who 

 grow the lemon and are so deeply interested in having it handled properly 

 have such difficulty in securing help that will handle it carefully, what 

 could we expect when it went from under our watchful eye to the cold- 

 storage plant in the East, there to be stored, sorted over, and repacked 

 before going to our customers? 



Third — The expense of storage and repacking, freight on decay. 



Fourth — Why ship them East when they can be held here and 

 shipped whenever it is necessary? 



But we do not want to hold all of our lemons. What we should do 

 is to have them more evenly distributed throughout the year, and to sell 

 them when we can get a fair price, and be able to hold them when we 

 can not. If we can do this, and I think we can, and if we will strive 

 to pick our lemons carefully and at the proper time, handle them 

 carefully all of the time, put up an honest, well-graded pack — if we will 

 do these things, good market conditions are sure to follow, and we will 

 all find our lemon groves profitable. 



THE ORANGE FROM BLOSSOM TO CAR.. 



By A. D. BISHOP, of Orange. 



First, there is the care of the orchard, and this should be in progress 

 for several months in advance of the blooming season, so as to put the 

 trees in condition for healthy bloom and to hold the fruit after it has 

 formed. We should endeavor to accomplish this by continuous cultiva- 

 tion; by irrigating frequently enough to insure continuous growth to the 

 end of the growing season; and by fertilization if necessary, and this 

 will be shown in the color of the foliage and also in the size of the leaves, 

 for if the leaves cease growing before they have attained more than one 

 fourth to one half their natural size under normal conditions, be sure 

 something is lacking. 



The tendency of an orange tree is to over-bloom. This is very marked 

 in some varieties, and so burdens the vitality of the tree as to render 

 dropping of the fruit a necessity; and as the fruit is all alike the drop- 

 ping frequently does not stop until all is gone, unless the trees are well 

 fortified against it by the presence of sufficient available nitrogen in 

 the soil and by other conditions of cultivation and moisture that there 

 may be no check in the growth until the young fruit has attained con- 

 siderable size. 



