122 



CITRUS FRUITS. 



course, the merchants returned account of sales " nil.'' I will 

 say, in this connection that I have just received account sales 

 of my last shipment of limes, returning me nat, seven dollars 

 and forty-five cents per thousand, and written on the margin 

 was, " Good, well-selected limes looking up." 



This tells the whole story : Prepare and pack limes prop- 

 erly, that they may l:>e fairly introduced into the great fruit 

 marts, and the eonveni' iic" of us'ULi; them, as compared with the 

 large ienjons, will soon make tl.t m formidable rivals to the latter. 



A citric aci i inaiiulactory, Id lake off the " culls " of our 

 lime trees, would be ;i urecVt boon to this State, and pat thousands 

 of dollars in the pockets of the people very speedily, for there is 

 no tedious waiting for ten or twelve years for limes to come into 

 profit. Commencing to bear at their third year from the seed, 

 they rapidly increase in bearing capacity, until, when they art 

 twelve years old, they bear from three to five thousand limes. 



Now, suppose one hundred seedling orange trees and one- 

 hundred limes to be set out at the same time, at twelve 3^ears oi 

 age, the one hundred orange trees, carefully cultivated and fer- 

 tilized, will yield little, if any, income. The one himdred linae 

 trees, much neglected and unfertilized, will be each bearing, saj.^ 

 three thousand limes. Suppose they sell for only three dollar? 

 per thousand, net; well, here we have an income of nine huii 

 dred dollars for the hundred lime trees, occupying less than oBe 

 acre of ground. 



The lime tree is of low, bushy habit, and does not so deeply 

 resent trimming up as does the lemon. Tall, upright trees^-. 

 with smooth, bare trunks, have been shaped from the lime ; but 

 it is better to let nature take her own way, and she intended the 

 lime to be a tall, pyramidal bush, rather than a tree. All tha,t 

 is desirable is to prevent the lower branches from lying on the 

 ground, and to trim out the centre so that air and sunshine may 

 reach evey part. 



In raising seedling limes, always select the seed from the- 

 largest and most perfect fruit, as the fruit from this is sure to be- 

 of the same quality as the parent. There are only two or three 

 qualities of the lime, and these are the 



