ORANGE TREE. 



ORGANIC CHEMISTRY. 



which purpose it is extensively cultivated in 

 nurseries. " Its great merit," says Mr. T. S. 

 Pleasants, of Virginia, "consists in the spread- 

 ing manner of its growth, the denseness of its 

 branches, and the armature with which they 

 are furnished. Planted in hedge-rows, the ma- 

 clura would never become unmanageable on 

 account of its size; at the same time its growth 

 is sufficiently vigorous to make a fence in 3, 



4, or at most 5 years, from the seed. It may 

 be asserted with safety, that on land of tole- 

 rable fertility, the labour and expense of per- 

 fecting a system of hedges would not be greater 

 than to keep ordinary enclosures in good con- 

 dition for the time required to construct them. 



" The Osage orange trees are readily raised 

 from the seed, which, unlike those of the com- 

 mon thorn, require no preparation. On the 

 contrary, they vegetate with certainty in 2 or 3 

 weeks after planting. With tolerable care the 

 seedlings will grow 2 or 3 feet in height the 

 first season; after which they are to be re- 

 moved from the nursery rows to the place 

 designed for the hedge. Fifty of the large 

 oran ire-shaped berries yield at least a pound of 

 seed, or from 8 to 10,000 grains. It is the usual 

 practice to place the sets from 12 to 15 inches 

 apart, in a single row." (Farmers 1 Register, vol. 



5, p. 86.) 



Though originally from a southern locality, 

 the Osage orange is so hardy as to stand the 

 winters not only of the Middle, but of the East- 

 ern States. 



ORANGE TREE (Citrus}. The genus to 

 which the orange tree belongs consists of or- 

 namental species of fruit trees, growing from 

 3 to 15 feet high. The leaves are on more 

 or less dilated and winged footstalks; the 

 flowers are large, white, and odoriferous, exist- 

 ing at the same time as the fruit, which is too 

 well known to require description. Orange 

 trees thrive best in a good loamy soil, mixed 

 with a quantity of rotten dung. The different 

 kinds are procured by budding or grafting on 

 common stocks. Stocks for working upon are 

 raised from any oranges, lemons, &c. They 

 are sometimes raised from cuttings, in which 

 case they produce fruit when very small plants. 

 The flowers of the orange tree yield, by distil- 

 Idtion, a fragrant volatile oil, known by the 

 name of oil of Neroli. The fruit of the bigna- 

 roll or bitter orange makes one of the best pre- 

 serves which can be eaten, namely, Scotch 

 marmalade. The unripe fruit is used for fla- 

 vouring the liquor called curapoa. The ripe 

 fruit is wholesome, and a useful refrigerant in 

 fevers. 



ORANGE, WILD. See CHERRY, WILD. 



ORCHARD (Gr.). In horticulture, an en- 

 closure devoted to the culture of fruit trees. 

 In England the surface of the soil in orchards 

 is generally kept under pasture ; which, while 

 it prevents the earth from being washed away 

 by rains, is favourable to the running of the 

 roots immediately under the surface, by which 

 they are sooner called into action by heat in 

 spring, and sooner thrown into a torpid state 

 by cold in autumn. The principal fruits grown 

 in orchards of this description in Great Britain 

 are the apple, the pear, the plum, and the 



cherry; and wherever wheat can be ripened in 

 the plains, these fruits will arrive at perfection 

 on declivities exposed to the south and south- 

 east. 



ORCHARD-GRASS (Dactylis glomerata). 

 Called in England cock's-foot. It is an imper- 

 fect perennial, native to the United States. See 

 Cocn's-FooT, and GRASSKS. 



ORCHIDACE.E (Orchis, one of the genera). 

 A natural order of herbaceous endogens, in- 

 habiting all parts of the world, excepting those 

 climates situated upon the verge of the frozen 

 zone, or remarkable for their exceeding dry- 

 ness. They are well known for the singular 

 form of their flowers. Some of them grow 

 in the earth, 'others inhabit rocks and the 

 branches of trees, and a few appear to be true 

 parasites. They all belong to the class Gy- 

 namlria of Linnceus, are often very agreeably 

 scented, and sometimes produce an aromatic 

 fleshy fruit, as in the case of the vanilla, which 

 contains a large quantity of benzoic acid. The 

 nutritious substance called salep is prepared 

 from the amylaceous tubers of the male orchis, 

 merely drying them in ovens. They become 

 semi-pellucid, and when pulverized, form a 

 mucilage with boiling water. They are usually 

 grown in the frame or hothouse, and thrive 

 best in a mixture of loam, peat, and chalk, 

 broken small. They can only be increased 

 from seeds. It would be quite impossible to 

 describe the characters of each species. 



The species indigenous to England are 

 1. Butterfly orchis (O. bifolia). 2. Pyramidal 

 orchis (0. pyramidalis). 3. Green-winged mea- 

 dow orchis (O.moris). 4. Early purple orchis 

 (O. maacu/a). 5. Dwarf dark-winged orchis 

 (O. ustuldtd). 6. Great brown-winged orchis 

 (O. fusca). 7. Military orchis (O. militaris). 

 8. Monkey orchis (O. tephrosantos'). 9. Lizard 

 orchis (O. /arcina). 10. White cluster-rooted 

 orchis (O. albida). 11. Frog orchis (0. uViV/.s). 

 12. Marsh palmate orchis (O. latifolia). 13. 

 Spotted palmate orchis (O. maculata). 14. 

 Aromatic palmate orchis (O. conopsia). Most 

 of the native species of orchis inhabit mea- 

 dows and pastures, and hilly, chalky downs. 

 The roots are doubly tuberous, fleshy ; leaves 

 chiefly radical ; flowers numerous, spiked, 

 purple, crimson, or whitish in some highly 

 fragrant. (Smith's Eng. Flor. vol. iv. pp. 8 24). 



OREGON ALDER (Alnus Oregona). A spe- 

 cies of the alder genus, which, like the Euro- 

 pean alder, attains the height of 30 or 40 feet. 

 (Nuttatfs Supplement to Mirkaux.) 



ORGANIC CHEMISTRY, is that portion 

 of the science of chemistry which relates to 

 animal and vegetable substances. " The ob- 

 ject of organic chemistry," says M. Liebig, "is 

 to discover the chemical conditions which are 

 essential to the life and perfect developement 

 of animals and vegetables, and generally to in- 

 vestigate all those processes of organic nature 

 which are due to the operation of chemical 

 laws." In this article I shall confine myself 

 principally to the results obtained by the analy- 

 sis of vegetable and animal substances. Under 

 the heads ATMOSPHERE, EARTHS, GASES, TEM- 

 PERATURE, WATER, &c., will be found an ac- 

 count of their respective uses to vegetation. 



863 



