Citrus production

Citronelle
Lemon grass
Cymbopogon citratus

Lemon grass is grown in small clumps near the house and in hedges along paths for the leaves which are used for thatch and to make lemon-flavored tea. Propagation is by root division. On the Cayes Plain, there are large fields to supply the Dejoie essential oil plant at Ducis.

Citrus
Citrus
Citrus app.

Eight species of citrus are raised

The first four are rare and are found near the port cities of Jérémie, Les Cayes, and Jacmel. Calmouc, citrange, and limón douce are eaten raw like sweet oranges, and the aromatic bergamote peel is used to scent laundry. ALl of the remaining four species are abundant save in very dry or high regions.

Reproduction is from seed. In the case of sweet oranges, volunteer seedlings are transplanted from beneath trees that give especially good fruit. Some Valencia and Washing Navel oranges grafted on bitter orange stock have been distributed from government nurseries. Under the supervision of Departmental agronomist, Louis Dejoie, 27,160 lime seedlings from government nurseries were planted on 140 hectares on Île-à-Vache in 1936-37.

The rats are a pest on the citrus.

The acid juice of the lime is used as a flavoring in both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, as a substitute for vinegar, as a beauty lotion for the skin, and as a medication (together with salt) for wounds. Rochefort described the use of this powerful counter-irritant over 300 years ago. Sometimes the flesh of the lime is made into conserve. In the Cayes region, the whol limes are hauled to Louis Dejoie's essential oil plants to have the oil cooked out of them. Lime oil and lemon grass oil exports from these plants were begun in 1942.

Occasionally, the shaddock are eaten raw; however, they are more often made into conserve. The fruits are peeled, the thick inner white skin is soaked in water overnight, wrung out, and cooked with guava and sugar. Much of the shaddock is allowed to go to waste.

Juice of the bitter orange is used by the natives as it was by the buccaners over 300 years ago, to marinate meat. With the flesh of the oranve, conserve is made. The peel lends an agreeable aroma to the laundry and to bath water. Near Jacmel, the peel is removed, dried in courtyards and sold to exporters for shipment to Curacao to be made into "Curacao". Near Trouin, M. Ganot has a distillery to extract essential oils form the leaves and blossoms of the bitter oranve. The farmers use the leaves to make a tea.

Sweet oranges are the most plentiful fruit of late autumn and early winter. Tea is made form the orange peel, which may be dried and kept for that purpose.

Wood of the various species of citrus is preferred for making tool handles and the countryman's most popular musical instruments, drums.