THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 9 
HOME-GROWN DESSERT ORANGES. 
BY W. HARTWEG. 
¢@N the remarks about to be made, it is my intention to open 
out quite a new source of pleasure and interest to the 
genuine amateur horticulturist, for I am about to 
propose that the oranges required for the dessert should 
- ~ be grownathome. The cultivation of dessert oranges 
cannot be recommended to the notice of the grower for market, 
because the productions of the Azores can be imported and sold 
for less money than those of home growth; and before there will be 
sufficient purchasers prepared to pay the additional price necessary 
to make the undertaking remunerative, the public taste must be 
educated to appreciate the difference in the quality of the oranges. 
The difference is not in the direction many readers of the Froran 
Woxrtp will suppose, for, instead of the English-grown oranges being 
inferior to those imported from Lisbon, the Azores, and the Spanish 
coast, they are as superior as they well can be. They do not, 
perhaps, surpass them to the same extent as the Almeria grapes 
are surpassed by Alexandrian Muscats, but they are so rich and 
luscious, when well ripened, that it is difficult to enjoy an imported 
orange for some time after eating one of home growth. The general 
opinion among the uninitiated is that Enylish oranges are not fit to 
eat, and this opinion has prevailed for centuries back, for we find 
in Evelyn's Diary, written some two hundred years since, an entry 
to the effect that he had tasted oranges from his own garden equal 
to those imported, and, from the wording of the entry, it appears 
that this was regarded as a most exceptional occurrence. It is 
Supposed that oranges become, in this country, pithy, and of an 
unpleasant flavour, and those with whom you converse are generally 
able to point to some half-dozen trees in as many gardens, which 
bear fruit quite uneatable. I could mention at least fifty gardens 
if it would serve any practical purpose to do so, in which there are 
orange trees that produce fruit of large size, quite pithy, and of 
acrid taste, but this fact does not prove that eatable fruit may not be 
grown. As with pears, so with oranges ; there are a large number 
of varieties, some producing fruit of a medium size and fine quality, 
and others fruit of greater dimensions, but otherwise worthless. 
As the large-fruited varieties have mostly an exceedingly robust 
habit, and are furnished with bold handsome leafage, they have been 
largely propagated by trade growers on the Continent, and imported 
into this country simply for ornamental purposes. There is 
yet another reason why the oranges sometimes met with in con- 
servatories are not fit to eat, and that is improper culture. To have 
them in perfection, the trees must represent suitable sorts, and be 
placed under conditions favourable to the maturation of the crops. 
They must, for example, be planted or potted in a properly prepared 
compost, and receive the assistance of artificial heat, more especially 
during the winter, as it is'at that season the fruit arrives at 
maturity. A high temperature is by no means required, as will 
be shown in the remarks dealing with the cultural details. 
January, 
