>352 . TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



ripen their fruit every year in the fullest perfection, in nearly all the ravines and on the 

 warmer hillsides, wherever water can he obtained. Constant irrigation, Summer and 

 Winter, is necessary for their cultivation, as well as great Summer heat and a mild Win- 

 ter temperature. The lemon trees at Mentone are, indeed, much more numerous than 

 the orange trees, although many fine plantations of the latter are found throughout the 

 district. The presence, however, of orange and lemon trees growing in healthy luxurious- 

 ness, as forest trees, in the open air, does not prove that we have reached a tropical cli- 

 mate, where cold is unknown. When the weather is dry, and the sky is covered with 

 clouds, which arrest terrestrial radiation, the fruit of the orange tree will bear 7° F. below 

 the freezing point without injury, and orange trees themselves are only killed by 11° of 

 frost — that is 11° lower than 32°.' The lemon fruit, under similar circumstances, can only 

 bear 5° below the freezing point without injury, and the trees are killed by 8° or 9° of frost 

 (meaning that many degrees below the freezing point). But if the cold weather sets in 

 after a thaw or after rain, if the atmosphere is laden with moisture, or if the sky is cloud- 

 less, and the radiation from the earth is thus rapid at night, either the fruit or the tree- 

 may perish at a much higher temperature. The inhabitants of southern districts seem to 

 think that a less amount of frost is fatal to orange and lemon trees, but my own experi- 

 ence during ten Winters at Mentone corroborates the above data. On one side of the east- 

 ern bay, the warmest and most sheltered region of Mentone, the side of the mountain is 

 partially covered with lemon trees, which ascend on terraces to a considerable height 

 above the sea. They are in flower, and perfume the air at all seasons. In these warm 

 "terraces," protected from all winds but the south, exposed to the sun from morning 

 to night, Winter may be said not to exist. * * * The lemons produced at Men- 

 tone are known throughout Northern Europe, and fetch a high price in the market. 

 The lemon tree flowers here all the year through, never resting, a fact which implies con- 

 stant and active vegetation, without any period of repose. The crop is gathered at four 

 different epochs, the trees bearing at the same time flowers and fruit of all sizes. The 

 existence of large lemon trees in groves, from twenty to thirty or more years old, without 

 artificial protection and their profitable cultivation throughout the year, prove that where 

 they grow there must have been freedom from severe frost for many years. I was in- 

 formed, however, that about thirty years ago nearly all the lemon trees in the country 

 were destroyed in one night, which may account for no very old trees being seen. * * * 

 In the more severe Winters I have repeatedly known the thermometer to descend below 

 the freezing point several nights consecutively, near the seashore, and at the outlet of 

 the torrent beds. Slight films of ice then form on shallow pools on the road and near 

 the torrents, which are most exposed to the down draughts from the mountains; and the 

 highest mountain range may be covered with snow to the level of the olive groves. This 

 untoward state of things generally occasions great dismay in the minds of the inhabitants, 

 whose principal riches are the lemon groves. I have known many to sit up fur several 

 nights, in the greatest consternation, watching the thermometer. Indeed, there is in these 

 cases quite a panic, with reference to the lamentable condition of the weather. Such feel- 

 ings and fears plainly indicate that frost and snow are unusual and unwelcome visitors. 

 In January, 1864, there was a frost of unusual intensity throughout the south of Europe, 

 in Italy ami Spain especially. At Mentone it froze on the sea level several nights con- 

 secutively, and snow fell on the shore level. * * * Many lemon trees were killed and 

 much fruit destroyed. But the trees that were killed were all at the outlet of valleys 

 running up to the "mountains, where they had been planted, I was told, in opposition to 

 previous experience. Every twenty or thirty years an exceptionally intense frost occurs, 

 and kills the lemon trees in all but really warm and sheltered positions. The culture of 

 the lemon being very remunerative the agriculturist is apt to despise these warnings and 

 to extend its range. * All goes well for a time, and then the exceptional frost year occurs, 

 destroys the trees imprudently planted, and marks the limit of cultivation. * * * To 

 bring out the sweetness of the orange, it should be allowed to remain on the tree all Sum- 

 mer. It is insipid during the hot months, but after the Autumn rains it fills with luscious 

 juice. This is seldom done where oranges are cultivated for profit. There are many 

 varieties of the orange, some of which are much sweeter and ripen earlier than others, as, 

 for instance, the Maltese and Majorca orange; but then they are mostly thin skinned, and 

 so do not keep as well as the thick skinned, or Portugal variety. The latter are, there- 

 fore, preferred as the best for exportation. Oranges intended for exportation are gathered 

 in January and February, before they are ripe, or otherwise they would not really bear 

 the packing and transport. They do not really become ripe and sweet on the tree before 

 April, or even May — long after they redden. * * * The crop of an orange grove or 

 orchard is generalfy sold on the trees, to speculators from Paris, for a given sum. The latter 

 undertake the picking and packing, and in January and February the town and country 

 are quite alive with their operations. Troops of girls and women may be seen daily com- 

 ming down from the mountains with large baskets of oranges or lemons poised on their 

 heads. They carry as much as a hundredweight or more at a time. They are generally 

 barefooted, to enable them to get a better grasp of the rocky paths. Only the strongest 

 and healthiest girls can undertake this work, and that but for a few years. They go to 

 and from the mountains, a distance of from two to four miles, several times a day, and 

 earn about fifteen pence. 



