166 OUR COMMON FRUITS. 



tend this branch of commerce, and laid down rules for ita 

 regulation, by which it is found that the annual exporta- 

 tion thence amounted to several millions of fruit, and 

 that nearly all France, Germany, and several other coun- 

 tries of Europe, were supplied from thence. It is at 

 Genoa, in the present day, that these plants meet with the 

 most regular and garden-like culture, so that the orange 

 orchards in that neighbourhood may be said to supply all 

 Europe with trees. 



The date of the introduction of the orange-tree into our 

 own country is supposed to have been about 1596, Aubrey, 

 in his History of Surrey, mentioning the orangery of Bed- 

 dington, " where are several orange-trees planted in the 

 open ground,* where they have throve to admiration for 

 above a whole century, but are preserved during the winter 

 under a moveable covert. They were brought from Italy 

 by Sir Francis Carew, knight, and it was the first attempt 

 of the kind we hear of." The Biographia Britannica, how- 

 ever, connects the origin of these trees with a more illus- 

 trious name, asserting that " from a tradition preserved in 

 the family, they were raised by Sir Francis Carew, from 

 the seeds of the first oranges which were imported into 

 England by Sir Walter Baleigh." It has been stated that 

 in 1690 at least 10,000 oranges were gathered from these 

 trees ; but after flourishing for above a century, they were 

 all killed by a great frost. Though generally looked on 

 as plants only fit for the conservatory, they have for above- 

 100 years past been grown in gardens in Devonshire, 

 trained like peach-trees against walls, and sheltered only 

 with straw mats in winter, yet producing fruit as large 

 and fine as any from Portugal ; and London asserts very 

 confidently that in other localities, " with a little care and 

 without the expense of glass, they could be grown against 

 hollow walls, heated by flues, and protected by straw 

 mats." At present, however, even with the advantage 

 of greenhouses, our gardeners have not been very sue- 



* " We know but of one orangery in the open ground at Paris," says the 

 Bon Jardinier for 1860, " that of M. Lemichez, where they are propagated 

 with great success." 



