The St. Johns herald., 1901-02-16
CALIFORNIA LEMONS.
Four Million Dollars Wasted in
 Growing and Curing.
The principal Growers Had to Send Experts to Spain and itA1y to Learn the Busiasss
 Properly.

"The prejudice which existed until quite recently in this country against the domestic grown lemon IS fast disappearing and American con sunlers of the fruit are beginning 70 appreciate the fact that as inc ieeH- ons can now be obtained from sor,n> ern California as ever came 1roR Mediterranean ports remzrAe1 . wholesale fruit merchant in NC" York to a Washington Star writer the other day. Indeed, as Tar as shape, size, pungency and SoesS EseP- ing qualities are concerned the Osi'- fornia product has within the past four years become dangerous FsSai of the best Italian and Spanish 1ro1S- The annual consumption Of lemons in the United States amounts te about 5.OO0,OOO boxes. In 1896 Italy. and Spain supplied us with 4,TOO,oOO boxes of lemons and 100000 boxes were grown in California. Last year there were imported from Mediterranean countries 3,sO0,0O boxes of lemons and 1,2OO,0O boxes of the fruit came from the Pacific coast. This year the importation of lemons will be eo0- siderably smaller than ever before, and. providing the present high stan dard of the California fruit is main tained, the growers of the state VIII in the course of a few seasons sue ceed in driving the Mediterranean lemons from our markets, just as they have driven out the foreign prunes and raisins.
 "While lemons have been g-own in southern California for over hun dred years, the cultivation of the fruit as a commercial industry dates only from 1882. In that year the first grove was started on 8 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 to Po- mona valley, to Santa Barbara, Ven tura, Ontario and Pasadena, where the growers, in trying to make the cultivation of the fruit profitable industry, met with great many dis arrangements and failures for the first half dozen years.
 "The trees grew and bore some exs cellent fruit, but while it was found that shapely, thiD-skinned and juicy lemon could be produced on the trees. it was found a difficult task to cure the fruit so that it would not only not rot and show blemishes, but would retain it's pungency and oiliness of peel, as we'll as it's full acid juiciness, from the picking season in winter until the following summer, when it was wanted by the consumer.
 ''The art of curing lemons was only properly learned by the Californians in 1897, when the principal lemon growers clubbed together and sent experts 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 turn yellow. The , fruit is then put in a curing house, where it is kept at a temperature of about 50 degrees for some 20 days, which 'sweats out all the sugar. It is then removed to another temper ature for 50 days more before it is ready for the market. Thus the high est degree of acid and the largest de- gree of juice is obtained. One of the curious effects of this sweating proc ess is to reduce the thickness Of the skin. It originally grows thick and tough, but the acid seems to eat it up. Rough estimates put the capital invested in California in growing and curing lemons with all the appurten- ances at $4,500,00O.
 "The person whose knowledge of lemons is limited to an occasional pur- chase of a dozen will be surprised to learn that there are IT distinct va rieties grown in California and Flor ida. These differ in size, shape. quail ity and skin and In keeping qualities: But there are only four varieties that have any popularity in California and in eastern markets. These are the Eureka, Lisbon, Villa France and Bon nie Brae."
 Jack Rabbit Coming East.