768 



PRACTICE OF GARDENING. 



TART III, 



Common orange 



Bloody-fruite- 



Broad-leaved 



Bergamot large 



Bergamot small 



Cluster-fruited 



Curled-leaved 



Double-flowered 



Fine-leaved 



Laurel-leaved 



Lisbon 



Maltese 



Bloody Maltese 



4893. T/ie Citron is the C. Medica, L. (Gtzr. fru. 2. 

 t. 121. f. 2.) ; the citron of the French ; the citronier of 

 the Germans; and cedrate of the Italians, (Jig. 512.) 

 In its wild state the tree grows to the height of about 

 eight feet, erect and prickly, with long reclining branches. 

 The leaves are ovate, oblong, alternate, subserrate, smooth, 

 pale green. The fruit or berry is half a foot in length, 

 ovate, with a protuberance at the tip. There are two 

 rinds, the outer thin, with innumerable miliary glands, 

 full of a most fragrant oil ; the inner thick, white, and 

 fungous. The citron was introduced into Europe from 

 Media, under the name of malus medica, and was first cul- 

 tivated in Italy by Palladius in the second century. The 

 date of its introduction into England is not exactly 

 known; it would probably be coeval with that of the 

 lemon, which was cultivated in the botanic garden at Ox- 

 ford in 1648. The fairest fruit, Miller states, was in the 

 Duke of Argyle's garden at Whitton, where the trees 

 were trained against a south wall, through which there were flues for warming the air in 

 winter, and glass covers put over them, when the weather began to be cold. Thus 

 the fruit was as large and as perfectly ripe, as it is in Italy or Spain. In Italy citrons 

 and lemons are generally trained on walls or espaliers, because, being considerably more 

 tender than the orange, they require, at least in the north of Italy, some protection in 

 winter ; the fruit does not ripen regularly at one time, like that of the orange, but comes 

 successionally to maturity almost every month in the year. 



4894. Use. The fruit is seldom brought to the dessert in a raw state, but it forms excellent preserves and 

 sweetmeats, to furnish the table when other fruits are scarce. The juice, with sugar and water, forms 

 lemonade, a most refreshing, salubrious, and universally esteemed beverage. Its use in punch and negus 

 is well known. It is much used in medicine, and also in perfumery and dyeing. 



4895. Varieties. Dr. Sickler enumerates only about a dozen citrons and citronates as grown in Italy. 

 The French nurseries have nearly twenty names in their lists. In England the six following are cultivated 

 for sale : 



Theflat^fruited 



The round-fruited 

 The thick-leaved. 



I The rough-fruited I The grape-fruited Barbadoes 1 



I The forbidden-fruited | (Hort. Trans, vol. iii. p. 338.) 1 



4896. The lemon is the C. Medica, var. Limon, W. (Blackw. 362.) ; the limon of the French ; limonier 

 of the Germans ; and limone of the Italians. (Jig. 513.) The distinction between the lemon and citron is 

 very trifling. The fruit is less knobbed at the extremities, is rather longer, and more irregular, and the 

 skin is thinner than in the citron ; the wood is more knotty, and the bark rougher. Cultivated in the 

 Oxford garden in 1648. 



4897. The uses of the lemon are the same as those of the citron. 



4898. Varieties. Dr. Sickler enumerates twenty-eight as grown in Italy. The French, according to 

 Ville Herv, have eleven sorts ; in the London nurseries are cultivated the twelve following : 



Common 

 Broad-leaved 

 Chinese 

 Imperial 



Pear-shaped, or Lime (Jig. 514.) 

 Rough-fruited 

 Smooth-leaved 

 Striped gold 



Striped silver 

 Striped three-cclored 

 Upright 

 \\>rted fruited. 



