GALLESIO'S TREATISE ON THE CITRUS FAMILY. 



antiquity characterizing trees indigenous to the 

 New World. 



They are generally of a medium size, although 

 their growth is Sufficiently vigorous to smother 

 the ancient vegetation, vvhfch is overcome on all 

 sides where the orange tree grows. 



Tliis single fact convinced one learned travel- 

 ler that the orange tree did not exist in Paraguay 

 and La Plata until after the discovery of America 

 by Europeans (See Voyage in/South America 

 by Felix A/ara, hk 1, j> 100) 



fjui K is unnecessary to resort to conjectures, 

 when one can rely on unchallenged authorities. 

 I shall cite the Natural History of the Indies hy 

 Acosta, an author contemporary with the first 

 conquests by Europeans ; the History of Peru, 

 by Garcilasso de la Vega, and the Natural His- 

 tory of Brazil by Pison, whose authority is of 

 ihe greatest weight. The first named thus ex- 

 presses himself: 



"Among the trees carried to America by Eu- 

 ropeans not one has taken as rapidly as the or- 

 ange, lemon, citron, and other trees of this genus. 



" There are now in certain parts woods of or- 

 ange trees. Surprised by this, I asked the inhab- 

 itants of one isle, Who has filled the fields wilh 

 such a great quantity of these trees? They re- 

 plied that it was due to chance, as the frui is fallen 

 from ihe trees first planted had given birth to 

 numberless other trees; that thus, and by means 

 ot rains carrying in all directions fruit and seeds, 

 were formed the tufted woods seen now. This 

 reply seemed to me very satisfactory. 



" It is said that this is the most prosperous tree 

 in the Indies, where one finds no section wiihout 

 orange trees, because this earth is warm and moist, 

 a condition required lor the growth of this tree. 



" We do not see it in mountainous countries, 

 but in flat lands and near the coast. I have 

 never tasted a conserve of oranges as delicious 

 as is madein these isles." (History, Natural and 

 Moral, of the Indies, by Rev. Father Joseph d' 

 Acosta, bk. 4, chap. 31.) 



Pison expresses himself in the same way, in 

 speaking of Brazil. " I shall not speak," says 

 he, "of a,l tiiose plants of which we do not yet 

 know the remedial virtues, or which, carried else- 

 where in this country, have been well enough de- 

 scribed before me by other writers. Such are 

 the citron, the lemon, the orange, the urenade, 

 the ble of Turkey, etc." (GUILIELMI PISON is.. 

 History, Nat. and Med., of Brazil, bk. 4. p. 107.) 



Garcilasso de la Vega says as much relative to 

 Peru and Chili, and this writer, descended from 

 the Incas, and who was born at Pern soon after 

 the invasion by the Spaniards, ought to have 

 known the state of that country before the con- 

 quest. Here are his words : " Before the Span- 

 iards conquered Peru, it is certain that one saw 

 there neither tigs, grenades, oranges, citrons, 

 sour or sweet, pears, apples, apricots, quinces, 

 peaches, alberges, nor any of the plums which 

 grow in Spain. But one can say with truth j 

 that all these truiis, and many others which I ; 

 cannot remember, grow there to-day in such 

 abundance that one cares almost nothing for 

 them, any moie than ether Spanish things v\ hich 

 iiu-rease much more in those countries of the 

 Indies than in this realm." ([list, of the Incas, 

 Kings of Peru, by the IIH-H, Garcilasso de la 

 \Vga, bk. 1), c. 38.) 



Witnesses thus positive leave no doubt upon 

 the origin of the orange tre< s of America. 



That vast hemisphere, whose soil is so fertile, 

 and where is now found nearly all the plants of 

 the Old World, had received from Nature but a 

 certain number of vegetables, which belonged 

 to it, and were unknown to the rest of the world. 



Not till after its discovery by Europeans was 

 it enriched with the greater part of those beau- 

 tiful species given by Nature to countries far re- 

 moved from it, of which the culture took rapidly 

 in those fine climates. 



This tact, whose certainty is so evident, is an- 

 other convincing proof that each country has 

 had, originally, its species, and that industry 

 alone has so mingled them in one climate as to 

 greatly obscure their origin. 



ART. IX. The Free Sweet Orange Tree Preju- 

 dices of Agricultural Writers Concerning its 

 Existence Followed by the Cultivators Cir- 

 cumstances which have made it Known in Li- 

 giiria Advantages of its Culture Conclusion, 



It would be interesting to those investigating 

 the history of the citrus, to know whether the 

 orange, naturalized io America, was the sweet 

 orange or the bigarade. I have uselessly read 

 the writings upon the subject for the purpose of 

 learning the truth; none of them speak in a 

 mariner to enlighten us. Yet, notwithstanding 

 this silence, all agree that the sweet orange was 

 carried there at the same time as the bigarade, 

 or, at least, soon after. 



The woods seen there now are, in part, of this 

 species, and it is natural that, being cultivated 

 in Europe, it should be taken there by prefer- 

 ence. 



I have several times consulted planters of St. 

 Domingo upon the nature of the orange trees 

 of that country. 



According to their reports it would appear 

 that the sweet-fruited orange tree is still in that 

 island only a garden plant multiplied by graft, 

 and having no thorn. The bigarade tree, on the 

 contrary, (called by them bitter oranges,) is found 

 in. the woods in a savage state; but the Spanish 

 colonists have assured me that upon the Con- 

 tinent one may see woods of the two species. 



It is surprising that the success of those plan- 

 tations which renew themselves by seed, and give 

 sweet fruit wiihout being grafted, have not en- 

 lightened Europeans and led them to multiply 

 these trees by seed. I have no means of ascer- 

 taining whether this method is known iu Portu- 

 gal. As to Spain I think it is not practiced 

 there. An attentive examination of the sweet 

 orange trees of lhat country has satisfied me that 

 all are. grafted. 



It is certain that the method is still ignored in 

 Sicily and Naples, and not more than hull a ci n- 

 tury has elapsed since its introduction in Liguria. 



1 do not know, indeed, ot any writer on agri- 

 culture who 1ms spoken of the sweet orange as a 

 mother-species, capable of perpetuating and re- 

 producing iiseli' by its own seed. All speak only 

 of its multiplication by grafts, or by layers, and 

 ihe greater part have given methods for mod- 

 erating the harshness of five fruits by means of 

 infusions of the seed, or other similar proceed- 

 ings. 



