272 HISTORY OF FRUITS. 



Abraham Hume, in the year 1805. It has not yet been 

 cultivated in the countries that supply us with oranges, 

 but we may hope to meet with it in our markets ere many 

 years, as this variety of the orange appears as hardy as 

 other kinds ; and from those that have been ripened by 

 the late Sir Joseph Banks, and other gentlemen in this 

 country, the fruit has been found to be most delicious. 

 The rind is of a deep saffron colour, or rather between an 

 orange-colour and scarlet : the large variety often mea- 

 sures five inches in diameter; but the Chinese greatly 

 prefer the smaller variety of this orange, which the Bota- 

 nical Register states to be an entirely distinct species from 

 the common China orange, Citrus Auruntium. It is a na- 

 tive of Cochin China, and is cultivated at Canton. 



We have lately seen orange-trees imported from the 

 south of France, which have arrived in small tubs ; and so 

 well packed, that the fruit and blossoms remained on the 

 trees when they reached the neighbourhood of London. 



In the Philosophical Transactions, No. 114, there is a 

 very remarkable account of a tree standing in a grove 

 near Florence, having an orange stock, which had been 

 so grafted on, that it became in its branches, leaves, 

 flowers, and fruit, three-formed ; some emulating the 

 orange, some the lemon or citron, and some partaking of 

 both forms in one. These mixed fruits never produce any 

 perfect seeds : sometimes there are no seeds at all in them, 

 and sometimes only a few empty ones. 



Oranges require the same attention as apples or peaches 

 in grafting ; for in the most favourable climates, if suf- 

 fered to grow wild, the fruit is flat, and rather bitter. 



The Maltese graft their orange-trees on the pomegra- 

 nate stock, which causes the juice to be of a red colour, 

 and the flavour to be more esteemed. The Rev. Mr. 

 Hughes, in his Natural History of Barbadoes, mentions 

 the golden orange as growing in that island. He describes 



