The Orange. 179 



them in England for market. That is no reason why the 

 wealthy amateur gardener should not add to his other 

 refined pleasures the very elegant one of orange-culture. 

 To perceive what may be accomplished, no more is want- 

 ing than a visit to Mr. Rivers' orange-house at Sawbridge- 

 worth, where a spectacle is presented that would serve 

 well to illustrate a tale from fairy-land or the Arabian 

 Nights. The house is a hundred feet long and twenty- 

 four feet wide. The path down the middle is an avenue 

 of green and gold, the fruit upon a level with one's lips, 

 and almost vocal with that irresistible Come, eat me ! the 

 silent utterance of which, in one sweet way or another, 

 is the sign, ever and always, of what is best for us, and 

 most glorious. Many different varieties are grown at 

 Sawbridgeworth : the trees yield, upon the average, half 

 a bushel of fruit apiece. Trained against a south wall, 

 and protected in winter with matting, the orange-tree has 

 been known to fruit even out-of-doors, in South Devon. 

 In the Channel Islands it does so frequently. 



When we are cultivating a precious plant, just as in 

 dealing with our fellow-creatures, the question is not what 

 can they endure, but what treatment will tend to develop 

 their best and most loveable qualities. In horticulture, 

 nevertheless, the former must needs always be a con- 

 sideration. So far as regards the orange-tree, the simple 

 fact is that it can bear in winter, without injury, and has 

 to bear, for several months, in many places on the 

 northern side of the Mediterranean, as at Mentone, a 

 night temperature of 40, and a day temperature of 50 or 



