Lemon tree

“ This loss of vitality is in some measure met by grafting healthy scions of the lemon on the bitter orange, but trees so grafted do not bear fruit until they are eight or ten years old.
The lemon tree is exceedingly fruitful, a large one in Spain or Sicily ripening as many as three thousand fruits in favourable seasons. ”

“ Nut-trees, already lively with sap, project their white branches like gnarled fingers; everything else is green; winter lays no hand on this eternal spring. The thick lustrous leaf of the orange-tree rises from amid the foliage of the olive, and its golden apples glisten in the sun by thousands, interspersed with gleams of the pale lemon; often in these shady lanes do its glittering leaves flash out above the crest of the walls. This is the land of the orange. It grows even in miserable court-yards, alongside of dilapidated steps, spreading its luxuriant tops everywhere in the bright sunlight. ”

“ This variety forms a handsome, rapid-growing tree, with a fine spreading head, and bears large crops. It is very valuable as a profitable market sort. Fruit of medium size, very regularly shaped, and a little narrow towards the eye. Skin smooth, with a delicate waxen appearance, pale lemon yellow in the shade, with a brilliant crimson cheek next the sun, the two colors often joining in brilliant red. ”

“ Mentone is pre-eminently the district of lemons and oranges, grown here for the fruit, and not, as at Grasse, for the flower. Lemons at Mentone are more numerous than oranges. They are not so beautiful, as the fruit has not the golden hue of the orange—it is green or pale sulphur yellow. The fruit of the orange tree will bear [258] 7° Fahr. below freezing point without being seriously affected, but the lemon tree is much more sensitive, and is killed by 8°; it may also perish by over-much moisture in the atmosphere. ”

“ Lemon.
A small tree 3 to 6 meters in height, with rather open head of short, round or angular branches, thorny; bark grayish; young shoots purplish, smooth; leaves evergreen, alternate, 50 to 75 millimeters in length, ovate oval, sharp pointed, light green, margin serrate; petioles entirely wingless; flowers solitary, occasionally in pairs, axillary, on distinct peduncles; calyx persistent, segments 4 or 5; corolla large, 38 to 50 millimeters across, white inside, purplish outside; petals oblong, spreading, strongly reflexed; stamens 20 to 26, separate, or more or less united in small groups ”

“ The ancients believed that the lemon tree came originally from Persia.* To this day the peach, pear, apple, quince, cherry, apricot, almond, filbert, chestnut, fig, pistachio-nut, and pomegranate still flourish there: the olive is easily acclimatised, and the vine produces grapes equally suitable for the table or the winepress.** The plateau presents a poorer and less promising appearance—not that the soil is less genial, but the rivers become lost further inland, and the barrenness of the country increases as they come to an end one after another. ”

“ There is no way to tell just by looking at the phrase “lemon tree” exactly what it refers to, even if you know the meanings of “lemon” and “tree” by themselves. As English-speakers, we must simply know that it refers to “a tree which bears lemons as fruits”. A person who didn't know English very well might think of it as analogous to “brown tree” and wonder, “What kind of tree is lemon-colored?” ”

“ The lemon-tree is the real thermometer of the region, and the inhabitant has no need of the appliances of Réaumur or Fahrenheit, or the more facile Centigrade, for when three degrees of frost strikes in through the skin of the lemon, it withers up and dies. ”

“ It is possible to bud as you propose, and it is not necessary to go back to the old stock. Work in above the forks.
No Citrus Fruits on Lemon Roots.
Would it be any advantage to bud the Washington Navel on grapefruit and lemon roots?
The grapefruit or pomelo is a good root for the orange, and some propagators prefer it. The lemon root is not used at present, because of its effect in causing a coarse growth of tree and fruit and because it is more subject to disease than the orange root. In fact, we grow nearly all lemons on orange roots. ”

“ OF PRUNING ORANGES, LEMONS, &c.
These trees will grow very irregularly, especially the Lemon, if not frequently dressed or pruned. Any time this month look over them all minutely, and cut away any of the small naked wood where it is too crowded, and cut all young strong straggling shoots to the bounds of the tree, giving it a round regular head. It is sometimes necessary to cut out a small limb, but large amputations should be avoided. Cover all wounds with turpentine or bees-wax, to prevent the bad effects of the air. ”

“ THE lemon is the fruit of a small tree from ten to fifteen feet high. It is not particularly beautiful, being rather shrubby in its appearance. It is an evergreen, bearing leaves, flowers, and fruit all the year round. The flowers occur singly in the axils of the leaves. The calyx is persistent, that is, it does not drop off like the corolla, and may be found attached to the base of the fruit. The corolla consists of five spreading petals of a purplish-pink color.
The lemons of the market are from cultivated plants of which there is a large number of varieties. ”

“ 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 shipment are picked before they are fully ripe and packed in barrels or boxes holding from 400 to 700. When exposed the fruit shrinks and loses in weight very rapidly, due to the evaporation of moisture from the pulpy interior. In Italy each lemon is wrapped in tissue paper to protect it against injury and to reduce the evaporation of moisture. ”

“ Supposedly, one lemon “gives enough juice to make a pie.”
mitis—calamondin—Bushy little tree, not prickly, dense with glassy green leaves; flowers fragrant, small and white. May bear fruit all year but usually in winter it produces bright oranges, about one and a half inches in diameter, thin-skinned and somewhat flattened on the end. The lime-like flavor of the juice is reportedly pleasant, but my tree looked so pretty I didn’t pick the fruit. A calamondin can, and often will, fruit in a two-and-a-half-inch pot—a mighty midget. ”

“ The flowers are large and white, but purplish on the outside of the petals.
It is generally supposed that the citron-tree was first introduced from Assyria and Media into Greece, and thence into the Southern parts of Europe, where it is now cultivated to considerable extent. It is also grown in the islands of the West Indies. The fruit, partaking of the same quality as the lemon, with the exception of being somewhat less acid, is seldom eaten raw; but, preserved in sugar as a sweetmeat, it is much used by confectioners and others. ”

“ From their home in subtropical Asia the lemon, lime, and orange have invaded every part of the tropical world. Once, in the most remote part of the Sierra Maestra Mountains in eastern Cuba, where only by the most arduous cutting could a passage through the dense tropical forest be forced, the writer found within a few square rods an orange and a tree from tropical India. Such cases could be multiplied, and all over the world we see this endless struggle of plants to conquer new territory, often at the expense of existing vegetation. ”

“ Seeing them for the first time, I understood why the poet sang his dream of the land where they grow. "Lemon-trees, outdoors, in Massachusetts?" I asked. "They are a new species, no doubt."
"No, sir," the gardener said. "I admit it's not easy to persuade lemons to thrive through New England snow and gale; but thrive these do. Don't step any nearer them, sir, if you please. It is not healthy to be too intimate with these trees." ”

“ The second remarkable fact is that two supposed hybrids [633] (for their hybrid nature was not ascertained) between an orange and either a lemon or citron produced, on the same tree, leaves, flowers, and fruit of both pure parent-forms, as well as of a mixed or crossed nature. A bud taken from any one of the branches and grafted on another tree produces either one of the pure kinds or a capricious tree reproducing the three kinds. Whether the sweet lemon, which includes within the same fruit segments of differently flavoured pulp, [634] is an analogous case, I know not. ”

“ Originally a native of Asia, it has become widely distributed in Europe, Africa and America, and although far more susceptible to injury from frosts than the orange, the trees are successfully cultivated under many conditions. Doubtless the best results in this country have been obtained in California. Thousands of acres around San Diego are planted with lemon trees while large districts in the Ojai Valley, Ventura, Santa Barbara, Pomona and Los Angeles counties are devoted to its cultivation. ”

“ But small beetles or grubs or single feathers drawn “from the life” were within scope of the fruit merchant's purse. The eye that showed not the faintest vestige of reflected glory from the orange of the orange, the gamboge of the lemon, or the russet bronze of the pomegranate in their crated myriads would fitfully light up awhile as one by one, and with reiterated grunts of satisfaction, he afterward, in the secrecy of his home consigned these indifferent and “early” works of art to the flames. ”

“ They grow so thick on the tree that a man can pick more than twenty boxes a day. In preparing it for market the fruit "sweats," as it is called, in airy boxes, for a month in winter and ten days in summer, and ripens and colors during this process. Then each lemon is wiped dry and clean, wrapped separately in tissue-paper, and packed for shipment. The cost of a box of lemons from the tree to the railroad is about thirty-five cents.
Thousands of car-loads are shipped to the Eastern and Middle states, while the Pacific Coast is a never-failing market. ”

“ In crevices of the perpendicular walls lush creepers tapestried the gray stone, and far down, out of the mould of the subterranean dungeon, sprang slim lemon trees snowed over with fragrant bloom, clumps of oleander waving banners of vivid rose, and golden-green pomegranate bushes, where scarlet flakes glowed like the wings of tropical birds. ”

“ In the 18th century the tree became a favourite object of conservatory growth; in the open air, planted against a wall, and covered with mats in winter, it has often stood the cold of many seasons in the southern counties, in such situations the trees occasionally bearing abundant fruit. The trees are usually imported from Italy, where, especially near Nervi, such plants are raised in great numbers for exportation; they are generally budded on the stocks of some free-growing variety, often on the lemon or citron. ”

“ After dinner we walked in the grounds, it being too late for a longer excursion; and the general and Signor Bonaventura, whose surname was certainly a superfluity, since nobody ever addressed him by it, explained to me sundry matters connected with the culture of the lemon-trees, which constituted the principal revenue of the estate. It is certainly a graceful harvest, gathered every two months all the year round; the 500 trees in the garden having yielded upwards of 100,000 lemons in less than ten months, and 20,000 or 30,000 more being looked for before Christmas. ”

“ The limit in height of the olive is about 2700 ft., and that of the vine about 3500 ft. The lemon is really grown upon a bitter orange tree, grafted to bear the lemon. A considerable silk production depends on the cultivation of the mulberry in the neighbourhood of Messina and Catania. ”

“ It is suggested that by grafting cuttings of the healthy lemon-plant on the wild orange-tree, a new stock of plants may be obtained, and the fruit cultivated on trees which have not been subjected to forced growth. If this plan succeeds, it is to be hoped that the cultivation of the new race may be carried on with greater care in the future.Nature. ”

“ We are picked green because then we keep better and the skins are thinner. If we are left in our tree house until grown to full size our skins are thick, and we are sent to England, where we are sugared and dried and named sugared lemon peel. ”

“ It is a favourite and commendable pastime to raise orange and lemon trees from seeds; and lady gardeners acquire considerable expertness in it; although it is a most rare event for them to meet with the encouragement they deserve and look for in the production of fruit by their seedling trees. ”

“ There is another insect that fastens itself to the bark of lemon trees, and other plants; frequent washing with soap suds and brushing the sterns, removes it, and some times wash the leaves with a sponge, when the weather is too cold to put them out of doors. Setting them out in a warm rain, or watering them well all over the foliage, is very reviving to plants. Be careful to have pieces of old broken earthen-ware at the bottom of each pot, to drain them, or the plants will not thrive. The earth should be sometimes removed, and an occasional re-potting, is an advantage ”

“ Said to closely resemble Gold Dust and Japan Wonder. Tree very hardy and a young bearer, often blossoming the first year and setting the fruit the second. Fruit large to medium, apple-shaped, rather flat, regular, light lemon-yellow, with many fine dots, russeted, especially about the stem; flesh juicy, aromatic, slightly sweetish; poor ”