11 



LIMES. 



Limes are the fruit of Citrus Limetta, a tree which grows wild in the West Indies and other tropical 

 countries. 



Situation — Limes grow best near the sea up to an elevation of 500 feet, whore the atmosphere is moist. 

 If the spot is liable to droughts, irrigation is necessary. 



Soil — The soil should be light. It need not be as rich as for cocoa, so that thoso portions of a cocoa estate 

 where the soil is too poor for cocoa, might be suitable for limes. 



Planting — The seed should bo sown in nursery beds, pricked out into other beds at about one foot apart, 

 and finally transplanted into permanent spots. The trees should bo planted about from 15 to 18 feet apart. 



Cultivation — They require pruning, to prevent the contre becoming choked, and to remove suckers and 

 superfluous and dead wood. Parasites must be carefully cleared off. Weeding should be attended to, and the 

 soil occasionally stirred. 



Yield — The trees begin to yield when about 3 years old, and aro in full bearing at 7 years. The yield 

 varies, but under favourable circumstances may bo as much as from three quarters to a whole barrel from 

 each tree. 



Extraction of Juice — When manufactured on a small scale, the fruit is pressed between rollers. Cider 

 presses or small sugar-mills answer the purpose. Dr. Nicholls recommends a form of mill "made with heavy 

 horizontal wooden rollers covered with sheets of copper roughly perforated so as to catch the limes." From 

 7 to 8 gallons of juice can be obtained from one barrel of fruit if the mill is effective. 



Preparation of the Juice — "When the juice is exported in its raw state, it is necessary to take particular 

 care to exclude all dirt, fruit pulp, and seeds. If the limes be gathered in rainy weather, the mud must be 

 washed off them before they are passed into the mill, and it is well to strain the juice through several copper 

 sieves with meshes of decreasing size. Another good plan is to allow the juice to remain in puncheons or 

 casks with a tap put in about 10 inches from the bottom. The juice will then "settle," the seeds and the 

 heavier part of the pulp falling to the bottom, and the oil and oth^r impurities rising to the top. The juice 

 can be drawn off in three or four days, and it is allowed to run as long as it is clear. The cask in which the 

 juice is exported must be completely filled, so as to exclude the air, and they should be bunged up as soon as 

 possible. If this system be adopted the juice will remain in good condition for many mouths. When it is 

 necessary to keep it for a long time, half an ounce of salicylic acid can be added to every fifty gallons of juice, 

 the acid preventing the fermentation and consequent destruction of the product. The salicylic acid will not 

 interfere in any way with the wholesomeness of the juice. 



Concentration of the Juice.—" Concentrated lime juice is prepared very simply by evaporation in open 

 copper pans until the required density is obtained. In Dominica, the juice is usually boiled down until it 

 reaches one-tenth or one-twelfth of its original volume the resulting product being of very acid stuff about 

 the colour and consistency of molasses. The concentration of the juice requires a great deal of fuel, about 

 two cords being required to produce a hogshead at a density of 10 to 1. It is necessary for the planter there- 

 fore, to look to the available sources of supply of fuel beforo he commences to cultivate limes for concen- 

 tration of the juice. If he have no forest land on or near to his property, fast growing trees should be 

 planted at the same time as the limes, and the cultivation of tree3 for fuel should go hand in hand with the 

 cultivation of the limes." — Dr. Aiicholls. Tropical Agriculture. 



Extraction on a large scale. --When the lime industry is maintained on a large scale as at Montserrat 

 more elaborate methods are employed. " The fully ripe fallen fruit are collected in the morning, brought in 

 and sorted. The sound fruit are treatel by the ecuelle for the oil in the rind ; they are then put in a hopper 

 with a sliding bottom, and supplied to two gun metal rollers having teeth of different lengths, which tear 

 them to pieces ; the torn fruit falls on a copper sieve below. After passing through this strainer, the juice 

 is run into puncheons. The pulp is put in coir bags, and pressed in a screw-press to extract the remainder of 

 the juice ; the marc is used as manure." (Haldane). 



The following information is taken from the " Gleaner" newspaper for 26th December, 1891, being a 

 portion of an account given by the Editor, the late Mr. Gabriel de Cordova, of a visit paid to several of the 

 West Indian Islands : — 



The Lime Industry. — "A small area of land in Montserrat is occupied with the sugar-cane and there 

 are still a few good estates, but the principal industry is the cultivation of the lime tree, which has made tho 

 island so well known throughout the civilized world. The prosecution of this industry lies in the hands of 

 the Montserrat Company (of Birmingham,) and the prosperity which has followed to the island is largely duo 

 to their energy and enterprise. The lime plantations were started about twenty years ago by Mr. Joseph 

 Sturge, and now the area under cultivation by the Company roaches 1,600 acres. The products exported are 

 fresh and pickled limes, raw lime juice, concentrated lime-juice, essence of lime from the rind, and oil of 

 limes prepared by distilation. The modus operandi pursued in the industry is interesting. 



The cultivation is carried on by the company on scientific principles. The trees ai - e planted in regular 

 rows, eighteen feet apart and at the time of our visit we were fortunate in seeing them at the height of bear- 

 ing, a most interesting sight. The crop was of the largest and the boughs actually lay on the ground, 

 weighted down by the rich abundance of fruit. 



Extracting the Essential Oil — The fruit is not picked from the trees, it is allowed to drop to the earth 

 and then gathered by the labourers and piled up into heaps beneath the trees. The extraction of the essen- 

 tial oil from the rind is the first process and this is the accomplished in most simple but effective manner, by 

 a special instrument the ecuelle. The women who are empl >yed for the purpose aro each provided with a 

 copper vessel made in the shape of an ordinary saucer, about eight inches in diameter and about one and a 

 half inches deep, with a lip on one side for the convenience of pouring. The concave surface is studded with 

 little copper spiggots constituting a kind of grater. Tho " handle" is fixed on the bottom and is hollow for 

 it servjs the purpose of a receptacle into which tho essence falls from the vessel. The oil is obtained by 

 simply rubbing the lime with tho palm of the hand over the spiggots. When tho " handle" is full, the con- 

 tents are emptied into cans, and the work continued. The oil is filtered through blottiug paper and shippod 

 in gallon tins. 



Obtaining Lime Juice— When the limes are thus relieved of the essential oil they are placed on the 

 ground in heaps as before, and aro afterwards conveyed in carts to tho works. Here they aro thrown into a 

 machine which 6imply cuts the limes into two ; the juice which Hows as a result of this operation is considered 

 to be the best, and is drawn off into puncheons, and shipped as " first quality." The halves then undergo a 



