4 Oranges and Lemons of India. 



if it be a mistake, has arisen from the way of tasting the 

 pulp. If you cut a Seville orange in two transversely, 

 and then give the pulp a bite, you will probably say it 

 is bitter But in biting the pulp with the upper teeth, 

 your lower teeth and lip graze against the rind, which 

 is intensely bitter, aromatic and pungent. The 

 bitterness of the rind mixing with the juice in the 

 mouth makes you think the pulp is bitter-sour. While 

 if you use a spoon and scoop out a bit of the pulp 

 without touching the rind and taste it, you will 

 probably say it is only sour* 



Wherever I have met with the Seville orange, 

 whether smooth or subwarty, whether large or small, 

 whether in Upper India, Southern India, or Ceylon, it 

 had the same character : rind very aromatic, bitter 

 and pungent ; pulp sour (in some cases I thought it 

 slightly bitter) ; leaves of a deep green, always typically 

 with a winged petiole, oftener with large wings to their 

 petioles, and always with a distinct, and what I consider 

 a characteristic, strong and very pleasant aroma in its 

 leaves. It is on account of this aroma in the leaves 

 that by preference in Europe they are distilled for 

 their essential oil, which perfumers call " petit-grain." 

 I have examined Sevilles from Malta, from Lucknow, 

 from Gonda, from Etawah (the latter said to have 

 been got from the Punjab), from Mooltan, from Cal- 

 cutta, from Kandy, and Newra Ellia in Ceylon ; all 

 with that characteristic scent in the leaf, and all have 

 the same charactered fruit viz., bitter, aromatic and 

 pungent rind and sour pulp. The two combined make 

 the best marmalade. Wherever I had an oppor- 

 tunity of examining the flowers they were highly 

 scented. It is difficult, owing to the above sources of 



* Possibly the envelopes of the quarters, or carpels, in which the 

 juice vesicles are contained, may sometimes be bitter. 



