ORANGES IN WESTERN ANDALUSIA. 565 



a report upon orange culture in this district. I have also prepared a 

 report on olive culture. Kaisius are not prepared within my consular 

 jurisdiction, this branch of fruit culture being localized on the Mediter- 

 ranean coast of Spain, and I have therefore omitted that subject. The 

 same will apply to dried figs, which are not produced here. Though 

 the fruit is raised largely in Cadiz and neighboring provinces, it is gen- 

 erally eaten fresh, and the very small percentage which is dried turns 

 out very mediocre in quality, and hardly enters into commerce at all. 



Varieties and maturity. The leading varieties of oranges produced in 

 Western Andalusia are: 1st, the Chinese orange (Naranja china legiti- 

 mas), of which the pulp is very sweet and juicy, with thin and smooth 

 rind ; this variety is the most highly prized ; 2d, the common orange 

 (Naranja comun), having sweet but not very juicy pulp, the rind rugose, 

 very thick, and easily detached ; 3d, seedless oranges, of excellent 

 quality, first cultivated by Carthusian monks at Seville; 4th, the sour 

 orange (Naranja agria), having a somewhat bitterish acid flavor; 5th, 

 the sour-sweet orange; 6th, the Mandarine orange, a very small fruit of 

 reddish pulp and exquisite taste and flavor ; the last is not extensively 

 cultivated. 



The orange tree, when raised from a cutting (which is the most usual 

 mode), comes into bearing five years after planting, though the acme 

 of productivity is not reached with most varieties before some ten or 

 twelve years more. How long they remain fruitful is an undetermined 

 question ; that is to say, when the trees are in favorable environment 

 and well cared for. There are in the garden of the Alcazar, at Seville, 

 several orange trees yet in bearing to which very old age is attributed, 

 one being said to have been planted at the time of King Pedro I, about 

 1350 to 1366; several others dating from the time of Charles I are in a 

 better state still, and, although the trunks are hollow, the foilage is 

 luxuriant, and they rise to a height of from 13 to 15 meters. Their 

 trunks measure from 1.24 meters to 1.40 meters in circumference, and 

 the age ascribed to them is about three hundred and forty years. 



Planting. The trees are occasionally raised from seed, but this mode 

 although practiced by careful growers is not generally resorted to in 

 this district, on account of the longer time required in bringing the or- 

 chards into bearing. The best time for putting the seed into the ground 

 is the month of April, when the mean temperature is about 18 centi- 

 grade. With this temperature and the proper conditions of humidity 

 the orange seeds germinate in less than a fortnight. In Seville and ad- 

 jacent provinces the seed of the sour orange is preferred to all others, 

 as it appears to develop more rapidly, the trees thus raised being later 

 on grafted with any variety desired. Some experts (Riso) hold, how- 

 ever, that the plants raised from the seed of the Chinese variety, al- 

 though of slow growth, are of a more robust habit and withstand cold 

 weather more successfully. When raised from seed, the usual mode is 

 to keep the shoots in the seed-boxes or hot-beds from four to five years, 



