PLANTS CULTIVATED FOR THEIR FRUITS. 183 



is no instance of a bitter orange tree from seed of sweet 

 oranges, nor of a sweet orange tree from the seed of 

 bitter oranges. ... In 1709, the orange trees of Finale 

 having been killed by frost, the practice of raising sweet 

 orange trees from seed was introduced, and every one 

 of these plants produced the sweet-juiced fruit." ^ 



Macfadyen,^ on the contrary, in his Flora of Jamaica, 

 says, " It is a well-established fact, familiar to every one 

 who has been any length of time in this island, that the 

 seed of the sweet orange very frequently grows up into 

 a tree bearing the bitter fruit, numerous well-attested 

 instances of which have come to my own knowledge. I 

 am not aware, however, that the seed of the bitter orange 

 has ever grown up into the sweet-fruited variety. . . . 

 We may therefore conclude," the author judiciously goes 

 on to say, " that the bitter orange was the original stock." 

 He asserts that in calcareous soil the sweet orange may 

 be raised from seed, but that in other soils it produces 

 fruits more or less sour or bitter. Duchassaing says that 

 in Guadeloupe the seeds of sweet oranges often yield 

 bitter fruit,^ while, according to Dr. Ernst, at Caracas 

 they sometimes yield sour but not bitter fruit.* Brandis 

 relates that at Khasia, in India, as far as he can verify 

 the fact, the extensive plantations of sweet oranges are 

 from seed. These differences show the variable degree of 

 heredity, and confii-m the opinion that these two kinds 

 of orange should be considered as two varieties, not two 

 species. 



I am, however, obliged to take them in succession, 

 to explain their origin and the extent of their cultivation 

 at different epochs. 



Bitter Orange — Arancio forte in Italian, higaradier in 

 French, pomeranze in German. Citrus vdgaris, Risso ; 

 C. aurantium (var. bigaradia), Brandis and Hooker. 



It was unknown to the Greeks and Romans, as well 

 as the sweet orange. As they had had communication 



> Gallesio, Traite du Citrus, pp. 32, 67, 355, 357. 



• Macfadyen, Flo7-a of Jamaica, p. 129. 



• Quoted in Grisebach's Veget. Karaihen, p. 34. 



• Ernst, in Seemaim, Journ, of Bat, 1867, p. 272. 

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