CHAPTER VI 

 FRUITS 



THE ORANGE. Citrus Aurantium 



Importance IN commercial importance for its fruits, the orange family 



family? rar Se is said to come next to the vine, but the greater part of the 

 grapes cultivated are made into some form of wine or spirits, 

 and so, taken simply as a fruit, the orange and its allied 

 species may be said really to be the most important of all 

 the fruits cultivated by man. The orange can be raised in 

 quantities only in tropical and sub-tropical climes ; and, as 

 the consumption of the fruit is greatest in temperate zones, 



The orange a very large trade is done in its cultivation and sale. Until 

 within comparatively recent times, nearly all the oranges 

 sold in the great fruit markets of Europe and North America, 

 were raised in the islands of the Atlantic lying off the 

 Northern coast of Africa, and in the countries bordering on 



The West the Mediterranean Sea. But the increase of steam commu- 

 nication with the West Indies has caused the fruit trade of 

 . some of the West Indian Islands to become greatly aug- 

 mented, and a trade in oranges has been established between 

 the United States and Jamaica, the Bahamas and Dominica. 

 By careful packing and selection the fruit can be kept so as 

 to undergo long sea voyages : and, as the orange trees grow 

 in the West Indies perhaps more luxuriantly than in any 

 other part of the world, there is no reason .why the bulk of 

 the oranges consumed in the United States should not be 



