APPENDIX. 177 



wished to have in his fields, but no word to be con- 

 strued into ordering a shelter for any, unless the 

 fig and almond. It is astonishing that, having 

 spoken in detail of all the parts of the house, of 

 laboring utensils the most ordinary, and even of 

 those of housekeeping, he forgot an object of such 

 great luxury as a hot-house. But in proportion as 

 civilization and commerce increased riches and ex- 

 travagance, the fruit of this tree became more 

 sought for, and at the same time more common ; 

 while, above all, the properties of the new species 

 just introduced extended its use in medicine, in 

 agreeable drinks, and as a luxury of the table. At 

 first they were in cold countries only a foreign pro- 

 duction procured from the South, but afterward the 

 people began to covet from the more happy climates 

 the ornament of these trees, and to wish, above all, 

 to embellish with them their gardens. In temper- 

 ate climes they began to cultivate them in vases, 

 depositing them during winter in caves ; and in the 

 cold latitudes the necessity of struggling against na- 

 ture gave the idea of constructing apartments which 

 could be heated at pleasure by fire, and which 

 would shelter the plants from the rigor of the 

 season. 



It is difficult to fix the date at which they began to 

 build edifices for protection of oranges. The oldest 

 trace of it that I have been able to find is furnished 

 by a passage in the history of Dauphiny, dated 1336. 

 (We find in this history, printed at Geneva in 1722, 



