1 70 Fruits and Fruit- Trees. 



the national " Christmas-pudding." Mingled with fruits 

 that have undergone no such conversion, the citron, when 

 candied and in perfection, adds also to the dessert a 

 feature almost princely. The cultivation appears to have 

 begun in Europe towards the close of the third century, 

 when the tree was established in Italy, a country which at 

 the present day sends to England an annual average of 

 three thousand seven hundred and fifty tons of the rind, 

 value ;6o,ooo. The principal seats of the culture are 

 the districts round about Florence and Genoa, after which 

 come Sicily, Corsica, Madeira, and the Azores. The 

 citron is a favourite fruit-tree also in Egypt, India, China, 

 Jamaica, and the Brazils. Usually, the rind is candied 

 in the country of its production. When sent to England 

 in the raw state it is pickled in brine. The tree is a 

 frequent ornament of English conservatories, and with 

 good management ripens its fruit, as yearly at Cherkley 

 Court, Leatherhead, Surrey.* The fruit was well known 

 as far back as the time of Elizabeth, being minutely and 

 accurately described by Gerard, who calls it the pome- 

 citron. 



The natural height of the citron-tree is about ten feet 

 It has no distinct trunk, but many short, thick, irregular, 

 and straggling branches. The leaves are large, five or 

 six inches long, and almost always rounded at the 



* The seat of Abraham Dixon, Esq. , celebrated not only for 

 the richness of the collection of tropical fruit-plants in which the 

 enthusiasm of the owner takes so much delight, but for the beauty, 

 rarely equalled, of the exotic water-lily house, the Victoria regia 

 leading the way. 



