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<which commence with November and continue up to March inclusively, 

 are pro'onged in the case of lemons up to the end of June. 



The first crop, which is gathered during the later end of October, 

 comprising unripe or half -ripe fruit is usually shipped forthwith, al- 

 though they can be and are occasionally warehoused, but the high prices 

 their early appearance commands on the market do not allow of their 

 being kept for ar.y considerable period of time ; they mellow, moreover, 

 on the voyage out, or in the warehouses in which they are stored on ar- 

 rival: The second crop consists of fruit which is picked during the months 

 November and December, which can be preserved for the most part, 

 with proper precautions, up to April, until then it is stored in special 

 warehouses and sorted carefully. 



The next gathering takes place in January, February, and the earliest 

 part of March, and the fruit under this category is immediately shipped 

 for exportation, iind it c m in nowise be housed or kept for any con- 

 siderable length of time. 



The fruit in whatever season collected should never be under-weight, 

 viz., under 3£ oz. in weight, which is average limit assigned by expe- 

 rienced hands to good marketable fruit, and should be carefully packed 

 in cases made of beech-wood or other light, dry wood of a similar tex- 

 ture. Each case is divided by a thin partition into two parts, and are of 

 various sizes. Those containing from 300 to 360 lemons each are the 

 smallest, and are mostly destined for the United States, a few being ex- 

 pedited to Hamburgh and Trieste, those containing between 400 and 

 420 are mostly shipped to French ports, those containing from 420 to 

 490 are usually destined for the United Kingdom.. In every case the 

 lemons should be carefully packed in tissue paper, and the fruit sorted 

 previously ; the mould}' or otherwise damaged fruit set aside, the pedi- 

 cle cut off, but not torn away. 



These observations anent the picking and packing of lemons, apply 

 generally to the gathering and housing of oranges With regard, how- 

 ever, to the proper season for orange picking, it must be observed that 

 all the fruit growing on the same site ripens about the same time and 

 is all gathered at once and not in successive pickings, although, of course 

 the crop may be ripe for collecting early or late, according to the altitude 

 of the plantation above the sea-level, the greater or less dryness of the soil, 

 and the more or less southern and sunny aspect Thus the fruit on the 

 lowlands is ripe for picking towards the end of November, that on the high 

 lands in December and January. Finally, the fruit on the mountains 

 only mature sufficiently for the purpose towards the middle of March, 

 but sometimes as early as February, and on very high and exposed sites 

 the fruit only partially ripens in April. Thus it will be seen that there 

 are three distinct seasons or epochs for cutting oranges, but not three 

 successive pickings of the same tree, and therefore the seasons for the 

 trimming and pruning of the orange tree differ widely from that of its 

 eongener, the lemon tree. 



The cases in which the fruit is laid contain each from 160 to 300 

 oranges, which are exported to all quarters of the globe, and thanks 

 to their experienced packing and sorting, generally reach their desti- 

 nation in a good condition. 



The need of great care and experience in the sorting, storing and 

 packing of oranges cannot be too strongly urged on all growers and ex- 



