CALLESIO'S TREATISE ON THE CITRUS FAMILY. 



serves some trees which date from the years' 1150 

 and 1200. Such is the Roman orange tree, 

 already spokeii of, and which is said to have 

 been planted by St. Dominic. 



Ferraris tells us that it has sour fruit, (acrium 

 pomorum^ and that the rejeton or sprout of it, ex- 

 isting still, is of this species ; " for I have myself 

 examined and tasted the fruit." 



This opinion, as to the acidity of the orange, 

 is also confirmed by all reraainiug to us of our 

 ancient writers relating to this tree. 



To the testimony of De Vitry is added that of 

 Simon Januarius, Silvaticus, Special is, Falcan- 

 dus, and many others. 



Nicolas Specialis, in his history of the siege of 

 Palermo, calls it the tree of sour apples (acripomo- 

 rum arbores); and Hugo Falcandus, in his history 

 of Sicily, describes it in the following manner : 

 Videas ibi, ct luniias acetosilate ua condiendts cibis 

 Idoneas, et arangias acetoso nihilominm Jtumore 

 plenas mterius, quce magis pulchritudine sua risum 

 obkctant quam ad illud utiles mdeantur. 



Finally, from the tenth to the fifteenth cen- 

 tury, we find not a single passage in history 

 which can relate to the sweet orange ; and wri- 

 ters who have made mention of this tree, (the 

 orange), directly or indirectly speak of it as a 

 kind of sour fruit more agreeable to sight by its 

 beauty, than to taste, by its juice. 



Nevertheless, the sweet orange has existed 

 since many centuries in China. "All travellers 

 certify to this fact ; and the large sylvan groves 

 of them found in Japan, Cochin-China, in the 

 vicinity of Canton, and in the Pacific islands, 

 prove that this plant originated there. 



We cannot reasonably believe that this species 

 has been obtained by a careful culture in coun- 

 tries so little civilized, and in savage isles where 

 the vegetable kingdom shows only the traces of 

 simple nature. Neither can we admit that the 

 sweet orange is the type of a species, the degra- 

 dation of which, by neglect, has originated the 

 bigarade or sour orange. 



This phenomenon (of which no other vegetable 

 offers a single specimen) should have had, neces- 

 sarily, results very different from those given to 

 us by history, and by the actual condition of 

 these plants in various parts of the world. 



Extraordinary culture could affect only indi- 

 viduals submitted to its action ; but in wild places 

 the orange tree itself would always be preserved 

 in its natural state, and nothing could have caused 

 the type to disappear entirely. For, if individual 

 trees abandoned to^nature had degenerated to the 

 point of presenting a difference so great as that 

 existing between the sweet and sour oranges, 

 these two species would surely have been found 

 mingled in the fields, and show a gradation of 

 debasement, or amelioration, proportionate to 

 the state of culture, richness of soil, and influ- 

 ence of climate. 



But, on the contraiy, all data given us by his- 

 tory upon this matter unite to convince us that 

 these two species of orange trees, as well as the 

 two species of citron trees, created separately by 

 Nature, have existed a long time isolated, and 

 have each had a father-land. The citron is found 

 only in Media. . 



Travelling botanists have also recognized the 

 fact that in parts of India where one meets the 



orange in an indigenous state, the citron is there 

 only by culture. 



The lemon did not pass into Persia, Syria, and 

 Egypt until after the Arabs had extended their 

 conquests beyond the Indus and the Ganges into 

 regions before unknown,, or separated from 

 Western Asia by their political state, their man 

 ners, and their religion. 



The bigarade appeared shortly before the 

 lemon, and probably it was not found indigenous, 

 by the side of the sweet orange, as in that case 

 the sweet fruit would surely have been preferred ; 

 at least it would have been associated with "the 

 bigarade, and would have followed it very soon 

 into the regions where it has been propagated. 



Yet we have seen that the sweet orange tree 

 was still unknown in Europe at the close of the 

 fourteenth century, and it seems not to have- 

 been cultivated until towards the middle of the 

 fifteenth century. 



It is not easy "to determine the different regions 

 where the species were placed originally by na- 

 ture. Luxury and civilization have mingled 

 them in a way to make them appear indigenous 

 in all hot countries, where their culture is cotem- 

 porary with the establishment of agriculture, 

 and the civilization of the inhabitants. 



It is only by visiting as a philosopher the in- 

 terior of countries least cultivated, that one could 

 find the trees in that sylvan and isolated state, 

 which we call natural ~ 



The most reliable data, however, succeed in 

 supplying us with proof that this species has ex 

 isted a long time only in the southern provinces 

 of China, and upon the coasts and isles of the 

 Pacific. 



The Indians, in fact, call this fine species by 

 the name of China orange, and I have remarked 

 that at Amboyna and Banda, where it is very 

 common, they acknowledge that to China they 

 owe the choicest and sweetest varieties. (See 

 Rumphius.) It is there, certainly, that all trav- 

 elers meet with the sweet-fruited orange as an 

 indigenous plant; it is from thence, according 

 to tradition, that it passed into India ; it is from 

 thence that recently have been received the 

 greater number of the singular varieties now 

 cultivated at the Moluccas, in India, and in 

 America. It is known in all these countries 

 under the name of China orange, and it was 

 also by this name known in Europe before the 

 crowd of varieties spread from one district to 

 another, and taking the name of the region 

 whence they came, had confounded the nomen- 

 clature of the Hesperides. 



In every case it is clearly demonstrated that 

 the original climate of the sweet-fruited orange 

 tree was not that of the bigarade tree, and that 

 each of the four species of the genus citrus had 

 a country whence they have been brought by the 

 industry and luxury of man. 



This fact, which we could prove also respect- 

 ing other genera of plants, is it not an effect of 

 a general law of Nature ? Is it not a principle 

 followed by Providence in the distribution of 

 all beings ? The Creator has made the genera 

 for the earth, and the species for the climates. 



He has spread equally over all the globe, the 

 greatest number of vegetables ; but He has orig- 

 inally modified them into many differing species, 



