CHAPTER V. 

 THE BIGARADE ORANGES. 



In America the oranges of this group are commonly 

 referred to as sour oranges, but for some reasons it has 

 been deemed best not to adopt this name, although the 

 sour orange is the most important variety in the group. 

 They have also been called Seville oranges, but this cog- 

 nomen has also been given to some of the sweet oranges. 

 It, too, has been discarded as a group name in favor of 

 the French "Bigarade." 



The sweet and bigarade oranges have been placed 

 under one species, C. Aurantium L., by many writers. One 

 of the principal reasons advanced for so doing is the 

 statement made by Macfayden and others that sweet orange 

 seed frequently produced trees bearing bigarade oranges. 



In view of evidence to the contrary, there appears to 

 be no reason for believing that Macfayden's observations 

 \vere accurate. In Porto Rico orange trees have been used 

 to a considerable extent for affording shade in the coffee 

 plantations. The plantings are invariably mixed, here 

 a sweet orange, there a bigarade. The planting was done 

 indiscriminately, no notice being taken as to the kind of 

 tree from which the seed was procured. Moreover the work 

 was done by ignorant laborers and any conclusions which 

 might be drawn from it are worthless. In Jamaica, where 

 Macfayden made his observations, practically the same con- 

 ditions prevail, and the laboring class is the same. The 

 natives were probably the first to aver that sweet 

 orange seed produced trees bearing bigarade fruit and 

 this mvth, like manv another, found its wav into and ob- 



