308 THE FARMER AT HOME. 



the bitter or Seville orange ; the Maltese orange is also deserving of 

 notice, from its red pulp. Though now extensively cultivated in the 

 south .of Europe, the introduction of the orange is of modem date, 

 and it was unknown in that continent till about the beginning of the 

 fifteenth century. At the present time, it forms an extensive branch 

 of commerce between the Mediterranean and the more northern coun- 

 tries. It is exceedingly long lived, and is still esteemed young at the 

 age of a century. An essential oil is obtained from the flowers, which 

 is hardly less esteemed than the celebrated ottar of roses. 



Bergamot is a well known perfume, obtained from the rind of a 

 variety of the orange, and has received the name from the town of 

 Bergamo, in Italy, where this variety is much cultivated. The wood 

 of this tree is fine grained, compact, susceptible of a fine polish, and 

 is employed in the arts. The orange, together with the lemon, citron, 

 lime, shaddock, and indeed almost the entire family aurantiaceoe, is a 

 native of tropical Asia and the East Indies. A singular exception is 

 found in our own country : a species of orange, bearing fruit of a very 

 agreeable flavor, is extremely abundant in East Florida, and, accord- 

 ing to the testimony of scientific travellers, is undoubtedly native : it 

 has not, however, been accurately compared with other species, and, 

 what is more remarkable, although mentioned by early travellers, has 

 not hitherto found its way into systematic works on our botany. 



ORES. Metals, when found in a state of combination with other 

 substances, have the name of ores. They are in general deposited in 

 veins of various thickness, and at various depths in the earth. The 

 mode of obtaining them is to penetrate from the surface of the earth 

 to the vein, and then to follow it in whatever direction it may lie. 

 The hollow places thus formed are called mines, and the men em- 

 ployed in them are denominated miners. When the veins are at a 

 great depth, or extend to any considerable distance beneath the surface 

 of the earth, it is necessary, at intervals, to make openings, or shafts, 

 to the surface, for the admission and circulation of air ; and also to 

 draw off the water, which collects at the bottom, by means of drains, 

 pumps, or steam engines, as the situation or circumstances require. 

 After the metallic ores are drawn from the mine, they, in general, go 

 through several processes before they are in a state fit for use. Some 

 of these are first washed in running water, to clean them from loose, 

 earthy particles. They are then piled together with combustible sub- 

 stances, and burnt, or roasted, for the purpose of ridding them of the 

 sulphur or arsenic with which they may happen to be combined, and 

 which rises from them in a state of fume or smoke. Thus having 

 been freed from impurities, they undergo the operation of melting, in 

 furnaces constructed according to the nature of the respective metals, 

 or the uses to which they are subsequently applied. 



ORGANIC REMAINS. A name applied to all those animal 

 and vegetable substances which have been dug out of the eartb in a 



