THE ORANGE FAMILY. 593 



much employed in curries and other preparations. In Britain they 

 are used chiefly for the two former purposes, and for putting into 

 vinegar, which from the fruit being in some places called chilies, is 

 called Chili vinegar. Medicinally, a small portion of the fruit put 

 into a carious tooth is said to give instant relief, and Chili vinegar 

 mixed with barley-water forms an excellent gargle. It is also, from 

 its pungent and digestive properties, the most suitable condiment to 

 all kinds of fish. The ripe fruit ground into powder, as cayenne 

 pepper, is in great request as a condiment in every part of the world, 

 and more especially in hot countries ; both in a green and ripe state, 

 it is much used as seasoning, and in the preparation of pickles, and it 

 also forms an excellent pickle of itself. Fresh gathered in a green 

 state, pickled, ripe, or as cayenne pepper, taken during dinner, it pre- 

 vents flatulency and assists digestion. When ripe, it may be preserved 

 on the plant for several years by hanging it up in a dry and mode- 

 rately warm room. In some families the green fruit is supplied daily 

 throughout the year, from plants kept in the pine-stove. Some of the 

 varieties, such as the small, round, yellow, and red, make almost as 

 showy plants as the Solanum capsicastrum and other varieties. 



Culture of the Capsicum. The seeds should be sown in March on 

 a hotbed, and transplanted from one pot into another till the middle of 

 June ; when in warm parts of the country, the annual sorts may be 

 transferred to a warm situation in the open garden, where they will 

 at least produce fruit fit for pickling ; and if trained against a south 

 wall, it will ripen in many situations when the summer proves warm. 

 In less favourable circumstances the plants should be kept in pots 

 and under glass, either in a frame or pit, or in a greenhouse. In this 

 state they will ripen their fruit, which will remain on the annual 

 plants great part of the winter ; and that of the biennial and frutescent 

 kinds may be kept in the greenhouse in a fruit-bearing state for two 

 or three years. The market-gardeners about London, who raise im- 

 mense quantities of capsicums for pickling, transplant first on heat, 

 three inches or four inches apart, and in June plant out in rows, a 

 foot apart and six inches distant in the row. The fruit is gathered 

 and sent to the market as soon as it has attained the proper size ; and 

 not being then above half that of the ripe fruit, an immense quantity 

 of pods is produced during August and September. A single ripe pod 

 will produce enough of seed for a small garden, and it need not be 

 separated from it till wanted for sowing. 



The Orange Family. 



The Orange family (Citrus, L.) includes the sweet orange, bitter 

 orange, bergamot orange, lime, shaddock, sweet lemon, true lemon, 

 and citron. It is very doubtful how far the orange was known to the 

 Romans, though the citron is said to have been cultivated by Palladius 

 in the second century ; and it is generally thought that the golden 

 apples of the Hesperides either were, or bore some allusion to, this fruit. 

 One or more of the varieties have been in cultivation as ornamental 



