1 80 Fruits and Fruit- Trees. 



55. But then it has at the same time the heavenly privi- 

 lege of a clear blue sky, with plenty of radiant sunshine. 

 The amount of sun-heat required to ripen the fruit is 

 much less than is demanded by peaches and grapes. 

 The orange wants no more, at all events in the south of 

 Europe, in Spring, when the fruit is maturing, than is 

 required to ripen the strawberry and to bring out the 

 earliest roses. 



So thoroughly naturalized has the orange-tree now 

 become in the south of Europe, that in Italy, Spain, and 

 Portugal it constitutes a very large element of the vegeta- 

 tion. In France the orange country is chiefly Provence, 

 or that part of the south which lies to the eastward of the 

 Rhone. Groves of orange-trees are especially abundant 

 and beautiful in the environs of Nice. More to the west- 

 ward, where the myrtle, the cactus, and the eucalyptus 

 grow as if natives, they cast an air of enchantment over 

 the scene which the pen only of a poet can describe 

 verdure, fragrance, innumerable bright gold, uniting to 

 give the luxury of the tropics without their troubles. 

 The fruit takes from twelve to eighteen months to get 

 perfectly ripe. Hence the overwhelming beauty of the 

 orange-groves in winter, which seem converted by its 

 golden presence into summer. The trees are in full 

 bloom again while still laden with the previous year's 

 produce. Hence the yet more captivating spectacle 

 presented when this summer-like winter is followed by 

 spring. It is from these countries, definitely Spain and 

 Portugal, from Malta, Sicily, and the Azores, that we 



