TRIBES HAVING A BITTER PRINCIPLE. 161 



" Are they British plants ?" asked Henry. 



" Very few of them ; but we can find an example 

 in our common rue, which, you know, is bitter 

 enough." 



" They must be disagreeable tribes if they are 

 like rue," said Henry. 



" Wait till you know what they are, before you 

 decide against them," replied his father. " There 

 is the CITRON tribe, containing the orange, lemon, 

 shaddock, lime, citron, &c. These trees are mostly 

 natives of the East Indies, but have spread thence 

 to other tropical countries. Not only are the fruits 

 delicious; but the flowers are beautiful and fra- 

 grant, and the wood is hard and compact. The 

 orange-tree, when flourishing in a favourable soil 

 and climate, produces an enormous quantity of 

 fruit. It is stated that a single tree at St. Michael's 

 has been known to produce 20,000 oranges fit for 

 packing, exclusively of the damaged fruit and 

 waste." 



"No wonder that oranges and lemons are so 

 plentiful and so cheap," said Henry ; " but one is 

 sweet and the other sour, and neither is bitter." 

 His father reminded him that the rind of the orange 

 and the seeds of the lemon are powerfully bitter ; 

 4, M 



