206 REPORT OF FHE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 
ter applied to the plants through a syringe on alternate days for several 
months has destroyed the insects without injury to the plants; weaker 
solutions seemed ineffective, and when the oil was increased to an ap- 
preciable degree, the young leaves and tender shoots of the oranges 
were injured. 
Recently a structure has been erected purposely for this collection of 
Citrus. The plants are growing in 2 bed of soil, and a house is so ar- 
ranged that the roof can be removed during summer, so that the plants 
have the benefit of open-air culture during the warm months, and 
the roof being replaced upon the approach of freezing weather, they 
are thus placed under the best conditions for healthy growth. 
Among the most desirable varieties of oranges that have fruited, and 
have been to some extent disseminated, are the true St. Michaels, which 
is said to form the bulk of the exportation from the Azores; the Navel 
or Bahia orange, which, with the former, was sent to California some 
years ago from the department, and which has proved there to be one 
of the best varieties yet introduced on the Pacifie coast, having at a re- 
cent exhibition received the highest encomiums for size and quality. 
The Maltese oval and the Tangerine, supposed to be the same as 
the Mandarin, are aiso esteemed varieties. There is evidently much 
confusion in the nomenclature of the Citrus family. Even in the col- 
lection of the department, although great care was exercised in re- 
gard to names, yet it is evident that the same variety is represented 
ander different names, and the same name is found attached to varie- 
ties which are evidently distinct. As orange culture becomes extended 
in this country, the distinctive merits of varieties will be ascertained 
and noted, so that in time the nomenclature of the Citrus family will be- 
come quite as accurate as that of pears and apples. 
The Citrus Japonica, or Kum-quat of the Chinese, a comparatively 
hardy species, is thus alluded to by Mr. Robert Fortune in one of his 
earlier papers on the plants of China and Japan: 
In the south ef China great quantities of this species are grown in pois, and hence 
it is met as a common plant in the nursery gardens at Fa-tee. It is, however, evi- 
dently of a more northern origin, for I met with numerous groves of it on the island 
of Chusan, where it grew in far greater perfection than if does about Canton. It 
seems also to be largely cnitivated in Japan, where it has been seen and described by 
Japanese travelers, 
The Kum-quat groves of Chnsan are formed on the sides of the lower hills, in situa- 
tions where the tea-plant flourishes. The plants are arranged in rows about four feot 
apart, and do not attain a mnch larger size than about six feet in height ; from three 
to six feet is the size they are usually seen. A smail kind of orange is also found in 
these groves, but large oranges, such as Mandarina, are entirely unknown; indeed, the 
Chusan winters wou!d be far too cold for them. This shows that the Kum-quat is of 
a much hardier nature than any of the orange family with which we aro acquainted. 
The fruit ripens late in autumn, being then abont the size of a large oval gooseberry, 
having asweet rind and a sharp acid pulp. It is largely used by the Chinese as a 
preserve. Preserved in sugar it is excellent. 
In China the Kum-quatis propagated by grafting on aprickly wild species of Citrus, 
which seems of a more hardy nature than the Kum-quai itself. 
The Citrus Japonica has been in the collection of the department for 
many years. There are two varieties, one having oval-shaped fruit, the 
other having round fruit; the oval-shaped variety has the largest frait. 
Efforts have been made from time to time to propagate the plant by 
grafting on stocks raised from seed of the common orange, but, although 
the grafts would unite, the plants made no progress in growth, the stocks 
being unsuited to them. The “prickly wild species of Citrus,” upon 
which the Chinese gratt the Kum-quat, is known as the Citrus trifoliata, 
which withstands, it is said, a zero frost. This stock may prove valn- 
