268 HISTORY OF FRUITS. 



At the present time, these trees are cultivated in Italy to 

 so great an extent, that there are almost forests of them. 

 Prince Antonio Borghese, at his palace near Rome, has 

 upwards of seventy sorts of orange and lemon-trees, 

 among which are some very rare kinds : it is a fruit so 

 much esteemed in Italy, where it thrives well, that 

 apples, pears, and cherries, have almost become extinct 

 in that country. 



Lord Lyttelton says : 



" In the soft bosom of Campania's vale, 

 When now the wintry tempests all are fled, 

 And genial summer breathes her gentle gale, 

 The verdant orange lifts its beauteous head ; 

 From every branch the balmy flow'rets rise, 

 On every bough the golden fruits are seen; 

 With odours sweet it fills the smiling skies; 

 But, in the midst of all its blooming pride, 

 A sudden blast from Apenninus blows, 



Cold with perpetual snows ; 

 The tender blighted plant shrinks up its leaves, and dies." 



The delightful perfume of an orange-grove is such as 

 to scent the air for miles ; and the tree gives a succession 

 of flowers during the whole summer on which account 

 it is cultivated in all green-houses. 



Cotton observes : 



44 The orange, with a vernal face, 

 Wears ev'ry rich autumnal grace, 

 While the young blossoms here unfold, 

 There shines the fruit like pendant gold ; 

 Citrons their balmy sweets exhale, 

 And triumph in the distant gale." 



Large orangeries have been built for the express pur- 

 pose of housing these trees : the most magnificent one is 

 that of Versailles, built by Louis the Fourteenth. 



