identical, though closely related, with 
the Citron, the fruit of the Citrus 
tnedica. 
As above stated the lemon tree 
bears fruit all the year round so that a 
number of crops are gathered annually. 
There are, however, three principal crops 
collected as follows: The first from 
July to the middle of September; the 
second in November; and the third 
in January. Frequently there are 
also collections in April and in May 
The tree is rather delicate, not as hardy 
as the orange, for example. In upper 
Italy it even becomes necessary to 
cover the trees during the winter 
months. Lemons intended for ship- 
ment are picked before they are fully 
ripe and packed in barrels or boxes 
holding from 400 to 700. When ex- 
posed the fruit shrinks and loses in 
weight very rapidly, due to the evap- 
oration of moisture from the pulpy in- 
terior. In Italy each lemon is wrapped 
in tissue paper to protect it against in- 
jury and to reduce the evaporation of 
moisture. Sometimes they are coated 
with collodion or covered with lead foil 
to reduce the loss of moisture. 
The lemon is put to various uses. 
The yellow rind contains many minute 
cavities which are filled with a fixed oil 
and an ethereal oil to which the fruit 
owes its fragrant odor. In Italy the 
oil is obtained in a very crude way. 
The peel is cut into three longitud- 
inal slices. The workman takes 
one of these in his right hand, 
in the left he grasps a small sponge; 
by pressing the sponge against the 
outer surface of the rind so that it be- 
comes concave, the oil-bearing sacs 
are ruptured and the oil absorbed by 
the sponge. This is repeated until the 
sponge becomes saturated, when the 
juice is squeezed into a cup or other 
vessel. I am very much afraid that 
the sponge and the hands of the work- 
man are not always clean. I have 
been informed that an attempt to in- 
troduce machinery for extracting the 
oil was forcibly resisted. It is also 
stated that the oil obtained by the 
"sponge process" is more valuable than 
that obtained by machinery and distil- 
lation. The bitter laste so evident in 
the lemon is due to limonin and 
hesperidin, which occur most abun- 
dantly in the rind. 
The sour taste of the lemon is due to 
citric acid, which is found in the large 
cells forming the pulpy interior. Of 
course the sap is largely water, about 
97.5 per cent., with about 2 per cent, 
citric acid. The amount of acid varies, 
however, even rising to 9 or 10 per 
cent. The juice is easily expressed 
and is put to various uses. Lemonade 
is largely consumed on ships, as it is 
said to prevent ship scurvy. Wash- 
ing face and hands with diluted lemon 
juice is said to remove tan and freckles. 
The beneficial properties of lemon 
juice, lemonade, in fevers is due to its 
cooling and refreshing effects, and also 
to the fact that it acts as a heart seda- 
tive, thus tending to lower the temper- 
ature. Lemon juice has been highly 
recommended in acute rheumatism and 
also to counteract the effects of certain 
poisons, especially opium. 
The essential oil of lemon acts as a 
stimulant and has been used in dis- 
eases of the eye {ophthalmia). It also 
serves to give an agreeable odor to 
certain medicines, and is used in the 
manufacture of perfumery and as a 
flavoring agent for confectionery. 
The lemon peel is used in medicine. 
Candied lemon peel is a confection 
prepared by boiling the peel in syrup 
and then allowing the sugar to crystal- 
lize. 
The following is a description of the 
excellently colored plate: ^ is a 
flowering and fruit-bearing twig, nearly 
natural size; I is a single flower, some- 
what magnified; 2, stamens and pistil; 
3, ovary in longitudinal sections; 3a, 
ovary in cross section; 4, anthers; 4a, 
pollen-grains; 5, fruit, nearly natural 
size; 6, cross-section of fruit showing 
rind, large-celled pulp and seeds; 7, 8 
and 9, seeds. 
