THE ORANGE FAMILY. 577 



aecumana) ; and tlie Citron ( C medico) ; all different species, with tlie 

 same general habit. 



The Orange, a native of Asia, is the most attractive and beautiful 

 of fruit-trees, with its rich, dark evergreen foliage and its golden fruit , 

 and it may well therefore enjoy the reputation of being the Golden Ap- 

 ple of the Hesperides. When to these charms we add the delicious fra- 

 grance of the blossoms, sur})assing that of any other fruit-tree, it niusii 

 be conceded that, though the orange must yield in riavor to some othei* 

 fruits, yet, on the whole, nothing surpasses an orange grove, or orchard, 

 in its combination of attractions — rich verdure, the delicious aroma of 

 its flowers, and the great beauty of its fruit. 



The so\ith of Europe, China, and the West Indies, furnish the lai- 

 gest supplies of this fruit. But it has, for a considei'able time, besn cul- 

 tivated pretty largely in Floi'ida, and the oi'ange groves of St. Augustine 

 yield large aud protitable cro})s. Indeed the cultivation may be extended 

 over a considerable portion of that part of the Union bordering on the 

 Gulf of Mexico ; and the soiithern part of Louisiana, and part of Texas, 

 are highly favorable to orange plantations. The Bitter Urange has be- 

 come quite naturalized in parts of Floiida, the so-called Wild Orange 

 seedlings furnishing a stock much more hardy than those jiroduced by 

 sowing tli3 imported seeds. By continually sowing the seed of these 

 Wild Oranges, they will furnish stocks suited to almost all the Southern 

 States, which will in time render the better kinds grafted u[)on them 

 comparatively hardy. 



North of the latitude where, in this country, the orange can be 

 grown in groves or orchards, it may still be protitably cultivated with 

 partial protection. The injury the trees sutler from severe winters 

 arises not from theii- freezing — for they will bear, without injury, severe 

 frost — but from the rupture of sap-vessels by the sudden thawing. A 

 mere shed, or covering of boards, will guard against all this mischief. 

 Accordingly, towards the south of Europe, where the climate is prett}^ 

 severe, the orange is grown in rows against stone walls or banks, in ter- 

 raced gardens, or trained loosely against a sheltered trellis ; and at the 

 approach of winter they are covered with a slight movable shed, or 

 frame of boards. In mild weather the sliding doors are opened, and 

 air is admitted freely — if very severe, a few- pots of charcoal are placed 

 within th3 enclosure. This covering remains over them four or five 

 months, and in this way the orange may be grow-n as far north as Bal- 

 timoie. 



Soil axd Culture. The best soil for the orange is a deep rich 

 loam. In projmgating them, sow, early in the spring, the seeds of the 

 naturalized or wild bitter orange of Florida, wdiich gives much the har- 

 diest stock. They may be budded in the nursery-row the same season, 

 or the next, and for this purpose the earliest time at which the o])era- 

 tion can be performed (the wood of the buds being sufficiently firm), the 

 greater the success. Whip or splice grafting may also be resorted to 

 early in the spring. Only the hardiest sorts should be chosen for 

 orchards or groves ; the more delicate ones can be grown easily with 

 slight covei'ing in winter. Fifty feet is the maximum height of the 

 orange in its native country, but it rarely forms in Florida more than a 

 compact low tree of twenty feet. It is better, therefore, to plant theiQ 

 80 near as partially to shade the surface of the ground. 



1nsEc;ts. The orange plantations of Florida have suffered veiy 



