ORANGE TRIBE. 



769 



4899. The lime is the Citrus Adda, ROJC. (Brawn's Jam 

 308.) by some esteemed a variety of tlie C. Medica ; the 

 lime of the French, Italians, and Germans, (j.g.515.) The 

 sour lemon, or lime, grows to the height of about eight feet 

 with a crooked trunk, and many diffused branches, with 

 prickles. The leaves are ovate, lanceolate, almost quite 

 entire. Berry an inch and a half in diameter, almost glo- 

 bular, with a protuberance at the top ; the surface regular 

 shining, greenish-yellow, with a very odorous rind, en- 

 closing a very acid juice. It is a native of Asia, but has 

 long been common in the West Indies, where it is grown 

 both for its fruit and for fences. 



5900. The uses of the lime are the same as those of the 

 le-mon, to which, in the West Indies, it is preferred ; the 

 juice being reckoned more wholesome, and the acid more 

 agreeable to the palate. 



5901. Varieties. By the catalogue in Nouveait Cours, &c. 

 the French have two sorts of lime ; and according to Dr 

 Sickler, the Italians have four varieties. The following 

 five kinds are grown in the London nurseries : 



S 4 | The Chinese spreading. 



5902.' The shaddock is the C. decumana, W. (Rump. am. 2. 

 t. 24. f. 2.) ; the orange pampelmouse of the French ; and 

 the arancio massimo of the Italians, (fig. 516.) The tree is 

 above the middle size, with spreading prickly branches. The 

 leaves are ovate, subacute, seldom obtuse ; the petioles are 

 cordate, winged ; the wings as broad as the leaves. The berry 

 spheroidal, frequently retuse at each end, of an even surface, 

 and greenish-yellow color ; pulp, red or white ; juice, sweet or 

 acid ; rind, white, thick, fungous, and bitter. Thunbcrg says, 

 the fruit in Japan grows to the size of a child's head, and 

 Dr. Sickler states its weight as fourteen pounds, and its diameter 

 as from seven to eight inches. It is a native of China and Japan, 

 and was brought to the West Indies by Captain Shaddock, from 

 whom, it has derived its name. From the West Indies it was 

 sent to England, and cultivated by Miller in 1739. 



5903. Use. The shaddock is certainly the least useful of the 

 species enumerated, and is cultivated chiefly for show. It has 

 the handsomest leaf of the whole tribe, and the fruit is larger 

 than the orange. Where several sorts of oranges are pre- 

 sented at the dessert, it makes a striking addition to the variety. 

 The juice is of a subacid sweetness, and excellent for quench- 

 ing thirst; and the fruit, from the thickness of its skin, will 

 keep longer in sea voyages than any of the other species of 

 citrus. 



5904. Varieties. The Italians, according to Dr. Sickler, have one ; and the French, according to the 

 Nouveau Cours, &c. four sorts. The following four are grown in the English nurseries : 



The common shaddock | The rough-fruited | The largest-fruited ! The West India. 



5905. Propagation of the citrus tribe. All the sorts may be propagated by seeds, cut- 

 tings, layers, and grafting, or inoculation. 



5906. By seed. The object of raising plants from seed is either to obtain new varieties or stocks for 

 grafting. To attempt raising new varieties ir Britain will in general be found a tedious process, as the 

 trees do not even in Italy show fruit for six or eight years or more ; and there is now in the botanic 

 garden at Toulon, a large handsome tree, of twenty-five years' growth, which had not in 1819 blossomed. 

 However, if new varieties are attempted, select the largest and best-formed ripe fruit of the kind to be 

 raised, extract the seeds, dry them, and sow and nurse as hereafter directed for raising stocks. Where 

 trees are to be raised for stocks to bud oranges, Miller advises to procure citron-seeds, as stocks from these 

 are preferable to any other for quickness of growth ; and also that they will take buds of either orange, 

 lemon, or citron. Next to these are the Seville orange seeds ; and the best of either sort are to be had 

 from rotten fruits. Prepare in spring a good hot-bed of dung or tan, and when it is in moderate temper sow 

 the seeds in pots of light earth ; plunge them, give water frequently, and raise the glasses in the heat of 

 the day. In three weeks the seeds will come up, and in a month's time be fit to transplant into single 

 pots. Then renew the bed, and fill pots of five inches in diameter half full of good fresh earth, mixed 

 with very rotten cow-dung : shake out the seedlings, and plant one in each pot, filling it up with the 

 same earth, and replunge as before. Give a good watering at the roots, and repeat this often, as the 

 orange tribe in a hot-bed require a good supply of water. Shade in the day-time, when the sun is power- 

 ful, and give air so as not to draw the plants. By this method, with due care, the plants will be two feet 

 high by July, when they must be hardened by degrees, by raising the glasses very high, and afterwards, 

 in fine days, taking them entirely off, shading the plants from the sun with mats or other screens. To- 

 wards the end of September, house them in a dry part of the green-house, near the glass, where they 

 will not be liable to damp off. During winter refresh them with water, and in April now and then wash 

 their stems and leaves, to clear them from any filth they may have contracted. Place them again in a 

 moderate hot-bed, and harden them by the beginning of June, that they may be in a right order to bud 

 in August. 



5907. Budding. Make choice of cuttings from trees, that are healthy and fruitful, observing that the 

 shoots are round ; the buds of these being much better and easier to part from the wood than of such 

 shoots as are flat or angular. After performing the operation, remove the plants into the green-house, or 

 under glass frames, to defend them from wet, turning the buds from the sun ; but let them have as much 

 free air as possible, and refresh them often with water. In a month it will be observable which has taken, 

 then untie them, and let them remain in the green-house all the winter. In spring cut off the stocks 

 about three inches above the buds, and place them in a moderate hot-bed, giving afr and water, and 

 shading as before. By the end of July they will have made shoots of two feet or more ; then harden them 

 before the cold sets in, that they may the better stand the winter. In the first winter after their shooting, 

 you must keep them very warm, for by forcing them in the bark-bed they will be somewhat tenderer ; 

 but it is very necessary to raise them to their height in one season, that their stems may be straight, for 

 in trees which are two or more years growing to their heading height, the stems are always crooked. In 

 the succeeding years their management will be the same as for full-grown trees. 



5908. The Italian jrrocess of raising and budding. 



3 D 



In the orange-nurseries at Nervi, 



