58 



GALLESIO'S TREATISE ON THE CITRUS FAMILY. 



much spread there ; it should then have appeared 

 early in the fifteenth century. It was precisely 

 at tbis epoch that a taste for botany revived in 

 Italy; and at this time the trade and agriculture 

 of Genoa were at the climax of their prosperity. 

 But during all this interval we find no trace of 

 this culture, except solely in Liguria. This fact 

 is attested by two important documents, which 

 I am about to make known. 



The first is an account of expenses by the 

 treasurer of Savona, dated 1471. The second is 

 a bill of sale, made in 1472, at Savona, by a mas- 

 ter of a ship of St. Remo, of his vessel laden 

 with oranges. 



Let us examine these two papers. 



The city of Savona had, in 1471, an ambassa- 

 dor at Milan. Wishing to make him a present, 

 she sent to him citron and lemon comfits, and, 

 afterwards, citruli. This double expedition, of 

 which we find the account in the books of ad- 

 ministration of Savona, dated 1471, is spoken of 

 in a w&y to prove that the citruli were sweet 

 oranges. 



It is sufficient to know that the lemons and 

 citrons, sent to Milan, were comfits, and that 

 the eitruli t on the contrary, were in their natural 

 state. 



This plainly shows that the citruli were edible, 

 whilst citrons and lemons were not used in com- 

 merce, except after a modification by the confec- 

 tioner, which brought out their aroma, and cor- 

 rected their bitterness. (I owe the knowledge/ 

 of this gift, just spoken of, to M. de Belloro, oore 

 of the most learned persons of Savona, who 

 kindly made investigations upon this subject in 

 the archives .of that city. Here is the passage, 

 copied by myself, from the book of administra- 

 tion, bearing this mark" 1468, H." under the 

 date of " May 27, 1471, p. 827 : " " De mandato 

 S. D. antianorum pro citrulis, misiss Medio- 

 lanum pro Lazaro Feo, et dictis pro Jacobo de 

 Dego, Gabdlotto, Odbelle fornacum anni pros- 

 sentis, grossos decemnovem, cum dimidio tibras tres, 

 solidos octo, et denarios tres." Below " Dieprima 

 junii, pro fructibus missis inediolanum, videlicet 

 limonibus confectis, et citris, f. 7, 11." The dif- 

 ference in price, and even the expressions indi- 

 cate that the citruli were fruits in their natural 

 state.) This fact is still more strengthened by a 

 contract of sale of cotemporaneous date, found 

 in the archives of the same city. This contract 

 contained a sale made by a master of a St. 

 Remo vessel, to another of the same place, of a 

 barque then at Savona, loaded with 15,000 citran- 

 guli, or cetroni. 



(We find in the archives of the notaries of Sa- 

 vona, a bill of sale received by the notary Pierre 

 Corsaro, dated February 12, 1872, by which 

 Dominique Asconzio, family Antoine, of St. 

 Remo, sells to Jean Baptiste Mulo, family Eti- 

 enne, of same place, one lembo, cum citranyulis, 

 sive cetronis, quindecim mitte, now on board said 

 vessel, for the consideration of two pounds per 

 thousand Genoese money the whole for the 

 sum of fifty pounds. The kmbo is a name fora 

 kind of vessel used at that time, which was 

 valued, as we see, at twenty pounds. This price 

 seems very small, but on comparing the value 

 of the money of that clay with that of the pres- 

 ent, it will be found to be a very considerable 

 sum. I am indebted for these facts to the son-in- 



law of M. Belloro M. Nervi Secretary of the 

 Mayoralty of Savona, where his talents and 

 knowledge are well known.) 



The number, 15,000, of these fruits, is suffi- 

 cient ground for concluding, First, that the 

 culture of orange trees at St. Remo had 

 reached a high point of prosperity ; secondly, 

 that these could not have been bigarades, but 

 were sweet oranges ; for what would they do 

 with so many bigarades V 



The confectioners were supplied by citrons 

 and lemons. The bigarade also might be con- 

 fected, but one could use for this purpose only 

 the skin, which is thin ; and it being impossible 

 to put them into commerce for any other use, it 

 would be extraordinary to find so large an ex- 

 portation. 



It is, therefore, natural to suppose that the 

 15,000 citranguli, or cetroni, were sweet oranges, 

 of which the consumption is more considerable, 

 and of which the sale would consequently be 

 more easy and more profitable. 



These conjectures seem to me reasonable 

 enough for our deducing that Liguria, at the 

 middle of the fifteenth century, had carried this 

 sort of culture and commerce much further than 

 all the rest of Europe, which could scarcely 

 have occurred in so short an interval had not 

 the Ligurians been the first to know and to cul- 

 tivate the sweet orange tree. 



ART. VII. Of the Varieties and Hybrids of the 

 Citrus History of the Origin and Transmigra- 

 tions T/ieir Multiplication. 

 The introduction of the sweet orange tree into 

 Europe certainly preceded that of the most of 

 the varieties and hybrids forming now the family 

 of the Hesperides. 



Doubtless a few of these races were formed in 

 the original countries where Nature had placed 

 the species. In the ancient woods of India and 

 China, the mingling of the pollen of many differ- 

 ing individuals would have given birth to the 

 varieties with which those peoples afterwards 

 embellished their gardens, and which, step by 

 step, passed into the bordering provinces, and 

 are at last spread over Europe. But a great 

 number were formed only in the orchards of 

 Syria and Egypt, after the naturalization of the 

 species, which were mixed, the one with the 

 other, by culture. Some varieties have originated 

 only in the gardens of Europe. 



The oldest variety known in the Occident is cer- 

 tainly the Adam's apple. It was cultivated in 

 Palestine in the twelfth century, and Jacques de 

 Vitry, who calls it by this name (pomum adami), 

 gives us a description so exact as to leave not a 

 doubt of its identity with that we now possess. 

 It is thought that it came from the Indies, where 

 it appears very old, and is regarded as a sub- 

 variety of the pompelmous (aurantium decuma- 

 num). We cannot attribute the same origin to 

 varieties cultivated at about the same time in 

 Egypt. It would appear that those were formed 

 in that country. Abd-Allatif, who describes 

 them, says they "were unknown in Irak and Bag- 

 dad, countries which served as passage for the 

 lemon and bigarade (citrons ronds\ and adds, that 

 these species combine with each other, producing 

 an infinite number of varieties. (See ABD-ALLA- 

 TIF. Description of Egypt, bk. 2, p. 3, translated 



