302 



We have already mentioned that the Orange^ with the 

 Lemon and other species, became known to Europe during 

 the Middle Ages. We have reasons for concluding that it 

 was only the bitter-fruited variety with which they were then 

 acquainted, and that it was not till an after period that the 

 sweet Orange was introduced. Thus, all the old established 

 orange groves of Spain, as those at Seville, planted by the 

 Moors, are of this sort. The Arabian writers, also, always 

 describe the Orange Tree as producing a fruit with an acrid 

 juice. We are informed that the first sweet Orange was 

 reared in the garden of the Count de St. Laurent, at Lisbon. 

 Hence this fruit has come to be generally known by the 

 name of the Portugal Orange. It is probable that the seeds 

 were procured from China; the Portuguese, previous to 

 this, having discovered the route to India by the Cape of 



Good Hope. 



By many writers, the sweet and the hitter Orange are con- 

 sidered as belonging to the same species, the qualities of the 

 fgrpier being the effects of cultivation and grafting. The 

 seed of the sweet Orange comes up, indifferently, either a tree 

 resembling that from which it was taken, or one producing 

 hitter fruit. There is, however, this fact to be taken into 

 -consideration, that the seed of the hitter Orange is never 

 known to grow into a tree of the sweet variety. In this 

 respect, the Orange resembles the Apple ; the seed of the 

 Crab producing a tree of its own kind; whilst that of the 

 Golden Pippin^ or any other cultivated variety, gives birth to 

 a fruit of both descriptions ; the one, though inferior to the 

 fruit of the parent tree, yet sweet, and the other small and 

 sour, and though not corresponding exactly, yet making a 

 near approach to the Crab. 



We may partly account for this distinction among Oranges, 

 by inquiring whether there be any circumstances which 

 favour the raising of the ^eet Orange from seed. It may be 

 remarked of all fruits, into whose composition the saccharine 

 principle enters largely, that these acquire the sweetness and 

 flavour for which they are esteemed, most readily, in a lime- 

 stone district. It is only in such situations that the Vim a^n 





