The St. Johns herald., 1900-11-10
CALIFORNIA; LEMONS.
Feur Millioa Dollars Wasted fn
 Growing and Curing.
The Principal avewsxs Haa C Asa& Experts t0 Spain sAA 1aA&Z ts Laa.n tAs DastAeaa
 PsoDS.iTs


 -'Ths prejudice which existed rntaE
 quite recently in this souautry
 against the domestic grown lemon ts
 fast disappearing and American con
 sumers of the fruit are beginning to
 appreciate the fact that ss fine lem
 ons can now be obtained from south
 ern California as ever came from
 Mediterranean ports," remarked &
 wholesale fruit merchant tn New
 York to Washington Star writer
 the other day. Indeed, ss far ss-
 shape. size, pungency and good keep
 ing qualities are concerned the Cali
 fornia product has within the past
 four years become 6 dangerous rival
 of the best Italian and Spsnish fruit.
 The annual consumption of Iemons
 in the United States amounts to about
 s.o0o,o boxes. In lsse Italy and
 Spain supplied us with A.7Oo. 900 boxea
 of lemons and 100000 boxes Wers
 grown in California. Last year there
 were imported from AsditerraneAn countries s,soo, 900 boxes of lsnons and 1,20O, 900 boxes of the fruit came from the Pacific coast. Thls year khs importation of lemons will be con
 sidersbly smaller than ever before.
 and, providing the present nigh staa- dard of the California fruit is main tained, the growers of the state Wil3 in the course of 6 few seasons sue ceed in driving the Mediterranean lemOns from eur markets, tuxt a they have driven out the foreign prunea and raisins.
 "While lemons have been grown iA southern Californis for over . hun dred years, the cultivation of the fruit as . commercial industry dates only from ieS7. In that rear tAe first grove was started on large scale at Riverside with the intention of producing fruit to compete in the eastern markets with that imported from Italy and Spain The zeal for lemon growing soon spread e Pc mona valley, to Santa BarharA Ven tura, Ontario and PassdsAa, where the growers, h trying to mAks ths cultivation of the fruit prontahbA industry. met witA . great many dis- couragenents and failures tor tAs first half doxen yeArA
 The trees grew and boss sozna ax- csilent fruit, but while is wAs found that shapely, thin-skinaed and juicy lemon could be produced on the trees, 1t was found . dincule tAsk ta suro the fruit so that it would not only not rot and shOw bieIniHhes. but would retain its punReney and oifnsss o9 peel, as well as it's fun acid juieiness. from the picking season in winter until the following summer, when ft was wanted by the consumer.
 "The art of curing lemons was oAiE properly learned by the cAliforniAns In 1897, when the principal lamon growers clubbed together and sent axperta over to Italy and Spain to learn the business, and now they are producing excellent results. To make the lemons sour they are picked be- fore they begin to tuyn yellow. The fruit Is then put in . curing house. where it is kept st a temperature es Ibout 50 degrees for some 20 days, which 'sweats out all the sugar. It Q then removed to another temper. tture for 60 days more before it Ea 'eady for the market. Thus the high .st degree of acid and the lArgest de- gree of juice is obtained One of the curious effects of this sweating prss- .ss is to reduce the thickness of the kin. It originally grows thick and ough, but the acid seems to eat ik p. Rough estimates put the capital avested In California In growing and uring lemons with all the sppurten- nces at &4, ,5OO, 900.
 "The person whose kno~sdes ok .mons is limited to sn occaaional pur- hase of dozen will be surprised e .srn that there are r distinct vap ieties grown in Cahfornia and F1ox- la. These differ In sise, shape. qusI- y and skin and in keeping qualit3eas ut there are only four varieties thAs ave any popularity in California and ! eastern markets These are sha ureks, Lisbon. Villa France end Bon, ie Brss-" s,.8