Citrus Growing in South Africa

Abstract

THIS work begins with a brief foreword by the author, in the course of which he suggests that the time appears to be favourable for the publication of such information as the book contains, because, he avers, “Citrus and, especially, Orange growing is ‘booming,’ and there are many thousands of new-comers to South Africa who are bent on Citrus culture as a means of livelihood.” The introduction of citrus fruits into South Africa isdealt with in Chap. i. It seems somewhat indefinite as to when they were first introduced; but oranges, lemons, and citrons are known to have existed so early as 1662, in the garden of the founder (Van Riebeek) of the first Dutch Colony, Cape of Good Hope, in 1652. The ‘bitter Seville orange’ and the ordinary ‘rough lemon’ have run wild in parts; both are used for stocks for grafting purposes, the ‘rough lemon’ (called “Mazoe lemon ’—the banks of the Mazoe River being in places lined with the trees) is described in Chap. v. on “Stocks for the Orange” as being the most widely used stock in South Africa.

Citrus Growing in South Africa.

By R. A. Davis. Pp. 309. (Cape Town and Johannesburg: The Specialty Press of South Africa, Ltd.; London: L. Reeve and Co., Ltd.) 25s. net.