GALLESIO'S TREATISE ON THE CITRUS FAMILY. 



land a tree which they had consecrated to a reli- 

 .gious use. The climate of Palestine would assist 

 immensely in this attempt, and, doubtless, at the 

 time of Josephus, they had already succeeded. 



This historian speaks of the citron under the 

 name of Persian-apple ; but this name, connected 

 with its origin, was the one received among the 

 Greeks for designating the citron? and was always 

 used by them even alter it had been naturalized 

 in our country. 



Besides, Josephus uses in another place the 

 name of Citrus (kitriou), and in a manner to 

 prove that it was a production of the country. 

 He tells us in book 18, that the Jews being in 

 revolt against their king, Alexander, threw 

 citron in his face whilst he was at the foot of the 

 altar celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles; and, 

 although he had said before, ia speaking of 

 the tree, that it was the custom in this so- 

 lemnity to fasten the Persian-apples .to palm 

 branches, he says here, that they were accus- 

 tomed to carry boughs of the citron. How shall 

 we explain this abundance of citrons, shown by 

 the little account made of them in using them 

 as missiles, and by their carrying branches of the 

 tree, unless we admit that it was accliaiated in 

 their country V Otherwise, would they not have 

 been content with simple citrous, as the Jews 

 are who now inhabit the coufnries farther north ? 



Nothing could be easier than to make it pass 

 from Palestine to the Grecian isles, and thence 

 to Sicily and Sardinia, where it really is so well 

 acclimated as to seem indigenous. 



Most writers who have spoken of the naturali- 

 zation of the citron in Italy have attributed it to 

 Palladius. Clusius, Bauhinus, Ferraris, and some 

 other partisans of this opinion, base it upon the 

 testimony of that author ; but Palladius, far from 

 taking to himself this glory, speaks in such a 

 manner of the citron as to make us think that 

 this plant was already not only acclimated in 

 Sardinia and Naples, but also in the north, where 

 it could not live without the help of artificial 

 shelters and coverings. 



This agricultural luxury, unknown to the an- 

 cients, and for the origin of which, perhaps, we 

 are indebted to the culture of the citron, proves 

 that the plant had been a long time in Italy, 

 where its culture had spread very much ; it was 

 in Sicily and in Naples, and, according to Palla- 

 dius, it bore flowers and fruit all the year, as in 

 Assyria. 



See how this writer expresses himself: 



" OF THE CITRON. 



" In the month of March one can propagate 

 the citron in several ways by seed, by drugeon 

 (root suckers), by rejeton (also suckers or shoots), 

 and by bouture (cutting). It loves a light earth, 

 a warm climate, and continual humidity. If one 

 wishes to sow its seed it should be done in this 

 way : Spade the earth to a depth of two feet, 

 mixing in ashes, then form small squares so the 

 water may run upon the sides in furrows ; in 

 these squares open with the hands a hole of four 

 inches, and place three seeds with their points 

 touching below. After covering, water them 

 every day ; they will come up sooner if moistened 

 with tepid water. As soon as the sprouts appear 

 It is necessary to carefully remove the neighbor- 

 ing weeds. Finally, at the third year, the young 

 tree should be transplanted to its place. If one 



desires to put in a drayeon, it must not be buried 

 deeper than one and a hall foot, so that it will 

 not decay. It is more easy to plant a boutitre, 

 which should be of the size of the knife-handle, 

 a foot and a half long, and sunooth on all sides, 

 with knots and thorns cut off, but without mak- 

 ing the slightest cut upon the point of the bud, 

 which forms the hope of the future sprout. The 

 more industrious people daub the extremities of 

 the cutting to be planted, with compost, or cover 

 it with sea-weed. Sometimes they wrap it in 

 soft clay, and prepared in this way they put the 

 cutting into well-tilled ground. 



' The rejeton (a sucker) may be more slen- 

 der and not so long/ It is to be buried in a simi- 

 lar manner as tire bouture, except the rejeton must 

 stand ont of the ground eight inches in place of 

 being covered entirely, as the bouture. As to 

 space there is not much required. The citron 

 tree ought not to touch any other plant ; it likes 

 particularly warm and moist places, and near the 

 sea, where it has an abundance of water. 



" But if one would force it to grow in a cold 

 climate, it is necessary to carefully put it in a 

 spot well sheltered by mud- walls, or in a south- 

 ern exposure, and in winter it must be covered 

 with a roof of straw ; when summer returns it 

 could safely be put in the air. 



" The rejeton, as well as the bouture, should be 

 planted, in autumn in warm countries; in cold 

 sections, on the contrary, they plant in July and 

 August, and water it daily. 



"I have, myself, succeeded in thus making 

 them prosper, to the point of giving fruit of ex- 

 traordinary size. Some think it is advantageous 

 to sow gourds around citrons, and that their 

 vines" when burned form an ashes useful to this 

 tree. 



" The citron likes frequent tilling ; it is the 

 means of getting the largest fruit ; they should 

 be but rarely trimmed, unless it be to remove 

 dead boughs. 



" They graft the citron in April in warm dis- 

 tricts, and in May in colder latitudes, placing the 

 graft, not upon the bark, but opening the stem or 

 trunk near the ground. 



" Some say the citron may be grafted upon 

 the pear and mulberry trees, but one should care- 

 fully cover these grafted plants with a little bas- 

 ket or a flower- pot. 



" Martial assures us that in Assyria this tree is 

 always covered with fruit. I have observed the 

 same in my possessions of Sardinia and Naples, 

 as in those provinces the climate is very soft, and 

 soil moist. The citrons there produce perpetually. 



" To the ripe fruit succeeds the green, and to 

 these the flowers. Indeed, Nature seems to have 

 endowed these trees with a continual revolution 

 of fruitfulness. 



" One can, they say, make the fruit sweet, sour 

 as they are, by macerating for three days their 

 seed in honey-water, or in the milk of a ewe, 

 which is thought to be better. 



" Some cultivators, in February, make at the 

 foot of the trunk of the tree an oblique hole, 

 open at the lower end, from which the sap is al- 

 lowed to run until the fruit is formed ; it is then 

 closed with earth. They pretend that by this 

 process the fruit becomes sweet. 



" Citrous may be kept all the year on the tree, 

 and still better in closed vases. When they are 



