REMARKS ON THE ORIGIN OF FRUITv^. 



By D. J. Browne, Author of the Sylva Americana, Etc. 



The origin of most of our common edible fruits, as well as that of 

 our garden and field vegetables, is involved in great obscurity. The 

 varieties, or raCes, have been greatly multiplied, either from a prone- 

 ness to change from their original types, without any apparent cause., 

 or from the influence of soil, climate, hybridization, and culture,, 

 which, in some instances, are more or less accidental or temporary. 



The Orange, 



All the varieties of the Orange {Citrus aurantium,) are believed to- 

 be derived from the same stock, although some are more acid, and 

 others more bitter in their flavor. It is supposed to have been origi- 

 nally a native of the warmest part of Asia, and has long since been 

 acclimated to the more temperate and tropical countries throughout 

 the globe. At present, it grows wild in Florida, Cuba, and other 

 parts of America, where it has been produced from stocks originally 

 introduced by the Spaniards from Europe. This wild fruit, in most 

 cases, is small and of a bitter sour, though in some instances it is 

 large and sweet. According to Galesio, who described forty princi- 

 pal kinds of orange, as cultivated in Italy, the Arabs, when they 

 penetrated India, discovered it there, and brought it to Europe by 

 two distinct routes, — the sweet ones through Persia to Syria, and 

 thence to the shores of Italy and the south of France, and the bitter 

 ones by Arabia, Egypt, and the North of Africa, to Portugal and 

 Spain. 



The Wine Grape. 



The Wine Grape of Europe ( Vitis vini/era,) is generally consider- 

 ed to have originated in Persia, whence it was introduced inta 

 Egypt, Greece, Sicily, and afterwards to France, Spain, and parts 

 of Europe. Its cultivation was probably among the earliest eflforts 

 of human industry j for we read that one of the first acts of Noah, 



