Culture of the Orange and Lemon. 275 



cannot do better than submit still to the bungling method of 

 Italy, and procure from Malta, Genoa, or Nice, or even from 

 the Italian warehouses in London, some of the plants im- 

 ported annually to this country for sale. The best and most 

 healthy plants I have been able to procure in London have 

 been from the warehouse of Mr. Hill in Piccadilly, and the 

 sorts I should recommend for use are the Sweet China Orange 

 (Portogallo dolce da China), and the Blood Orange (Porto- 

 gallo di Malta). The Egg Orange and the Sweet Mandarin 

 come, I believe, only from Malta. The Maltese use the word 

 Arancio, and not Portogallo, for the orange. Of lemons, the 

 Limone incomparabile, the Limone dolce, the Limone dolce 

 di Roma, and the Limone di cera rosso, are the best ; and of 

 citrons, the Madras, the Madeira, and the Sweet-scented. Of 

 limes, the Sweet and Sour, the Pompoleon, the Shaddock, 

 &c. &c, are all worthy of culture. At some future time I 

 may have it in my power to send you a list of the varieties of 

 this abundant genus. The trees, or rather sticks, bought in 

 London, will be found to thrive rapidly by soaking them in 

 milk-warm water for five or six hours, then planting them in 

 pots, disproportionately small, filled with good maiden earth 

 and vegetable mould, and plunging them into moist heat. If 

 the sticks are become very dry and hardened by the voyage, 

 it will be well to bind them round with wet moss, and so 

 leave them, wetting the moss daily with warm water, till they 

 have shot forth. 



The citrons, lemons, shaddocks, and limes will be found 

 easier to propagate than the oranges. Of the latter, the Man- 

 darins, sweet, bitter, and flat ; the Tangerine ; and the Myrtle- 

 leaved are the most difficult to secure in engrafting. The 

 China, the Seville, the Bloody, and - the Box-leaved seldom 

 fail. The Sweet Lemons, Forbidden Fruit, and all the above 

 named coarser sorts, will be found to grow readily from cut- 

 tings, and make handsome plants. Oranges do not grow 

 readily from cuttings ; and my rule, therefore, has been to 

 raise them by engrafting, giving the whole of my stocks to 

 them, while I have propagated the coarser sorts by cuttings. 



How much might be said in reprehension of the treatment 

 of the old collections of orange trees in this country, all in- 

 variably of the bitter sorts, and therefore comparatively use- 

 less ; how the trees have ceased for years to increase in size or 

 beauty; how they have been annually injured by being placed 

 in the open air during the summer, either exposed to a broil- 

 ing sun, or set under the drip of fir trees, &c. &c. Some have 

 imagined that orange trees thrive best in winter, when placed 



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