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 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. 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 longitudinal 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 becomes 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 workman are not always clean. I have been informed that an attempt to introduce 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 distillation. The bitter taste so evident in the lemon is due to _limonin_ and _hesperidin_, which occur most abundantly 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. Washing 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 sedative, thus tending to lower the temperature. Lemon juice has been highly recommended in acute rheumatism and also to counteract the effects of certain poisons, especially opium.