the latest issue of "Fruit Gardener" magazine arrived (March/April 1999,
vol. 31, #2) just arrived, and has a few interesting tidbits.

pg. 14 'Jubileum' Lemon -

an enormous new lemon has been developed in Georgia (that's the former
Soviet Georgia, i.e. USSR, not US). Note that lemons are cultivated
there in large greenhouses.

The 'Jubileum' lemon is a true lemon, a diploid, and is huge: 780-900
grams per lemon in size. This is larger than the 'Ponderosa' lemon, and
the fruits are of much higher quality [Ponderosa is tetraploid,
not diploid].

pp. 15-16
"Mango Orchards Defy the Desert", by Russ Glastetter

This article discusses the small commercial planting of mangoes in the
Coachella Valley of California. The mangoes produced there are of
dismal quality (taste-wise). A few interesting quotes:

"The mango is a tropical tree with needs not easily met in the desert.
The desert soil contains almost no organic matter, so little that the
growing of mangoes under these conditions is viewed as hydroponics! Both
the hot, dry summer air and the cold weather of winter stress the trees...

The very sandy soil in the Coachella Valley retains very little water.
Consequently, they irrigate twice daily with micro-sprinklers, applying
a total of 216 gallons of water per day to each tree!"

Let's see: 216 * 365 = 78840 gallons per tree per year. As it takes
years for a tree to bear, and production is low in the unfavorable
climate of the Coachella Valley (the cold nights there tend to stunt
the trees), that suggests that California mangoes are environmentally
inefficient. As the point of the vegan environmental arguments against
animal foods is that they are inefficient, why aren't vegan activists
protesting inefficient vegan foods as well?   :-)

Tom Billings