306 Notes and Gleanings. 



Dessert-Orange Culture.* — In the diary of that "fine old English gentle- 

 man," John Evelyn, may be found an intimation to the effect that he had eaten 

 as good " China oranges " plucked from his own trees as he ever wished to eat. 

 In those days, dessert-oranges were, it seems, called " China oranges." Although 

 oranges were cultivated in France long before Evelyn's time, yet they were con- 

 sidered merely ornamental appendages to palaces and mansions. No thought 

 seems to have been turned to them, so as to consider them fruit-trees : and even 

 Evelyn, with his remarkable horticultural sagacity, does not mention that he 

 had ranked orange-trees among fruit-trees ; for in his " Kalendarium Hortense," 

 when he mentions, for every month, " fruits in prime, and yet lasting," no men- 

 tion is made of oranges. It would seem, therefore, that his gathering of oranges 

 fit to eat was an accidental occurrence ; and we are led to suppose, from the 

 silence of gardeners for nearly two hundred years as to their culture, that the 

 orange-eating world has felt perfectly satisfied with imported oranges, brought 

 quickly by fast-sailing vessels. Still the difference between oranges freshly 

 gathered from the trees, and the very finest imported, is most remarkable. There 

 is a crispness and fine aroma in oranges freshly gathered, difficult to realize, un- 

 less they are promptly compared with imported fruit : they are indeed a luxury, 

 and, as such, will be cultivated ere long in every good garden. 



The houses best adapted for their cultivation are the large span-roofed, twen- 

 ty-four feet wide, six feet high at each side, and fifteen feet high in the centre. 

 A house of this size will require eight four-inch hot-water pipes, four on each 

 side ; as artificial heat is required all the year to ripen oranges in one season 

 perfectly. 



A smaller span-roofed house, five and a half feet high at each side, and twelve 

 feet high in the centre, heated by four four-inch hot- water pipes, two on each side, 

 is almost as eligible for orange-culture as one even of the larger size. A house 

 of these dimensions, with a central path, and a border on each side planted with 

 orange-trees, would form a pleasant and productive- orange-garden ; but to form 

 an orange-grove, so as to have trees of fine growth and to give abundant crops, 

 the larger house must be resorted to. 



From the experience I have gained, I firmly believe that no conservatory, no 

 orchid-house, no greenhouse, is half so beautiful or interesting as an orange- 

 house constructed on the principles I now advocate, and provided with fixed 

 roofs, rafters twenty-four inches apart, glazed with large pieces of glass, and ad- 

 mitting abundance of light ; so that in December, when the trees are covered 

 with their golden fruit, and many of them showing their snowy-white, perfumed 

 flowers, the scene is indeed enchanting, and is enhanced by the agreeable tem- 

 perature, which need not be higher than from 50° to 60° Fahr. (10° to 15° Cent.) 

 in cloudy weather. It is not fierce heat in winter that ripening oranges require, 

 but an even, agreeable temperature, such as is experienced in the Azores during 

 that season of the year. 



The houses above mentioned should have side ventilation, as in orchard-houses : 

 viz., an opening in each side of the large house, two feet wide ; for the smaller 



* From the Report of Proceedings of the International Horticultural Exhibition and Botanical Con- 

 gress of London, 1866 ; a very interesting record of that great horticultural gathering, just issued. 



