Ol^ANGE TREES OF H VERES. 155 



brought there by the Crusaders towards the end of 

 the eleventh century. Moreover it must have been 

 the bitter -fruited Orange tree which flourished there, 

 the one with almost uneatable fruits, but which \'ields 

 a ver\- sweet essence. For the poet Malherbe provided 

 himself in Ilyeres with that "huile de fleurs d'Oranger, 

 «'hich women rub into their hair to retain the powder". 

 The Orange trees of II\ eres suffered greath during 

 the se\'ere \\-inter of 170'), and in other se\ere winters 

 \vhich succeeded one another in the middle of that 

 centur\'. The plantations were reduced and the bitter- 

 fruited trees replaced b\' the sweet: ones, for oranges 

 could be more ijuickh- transported to the North from 

 H^'eres than Irom places lurther south. This was no 

 doubt the result of the then defective means of com- 

 munication. The oranges were gathered in the autnnni 

 at J^^'eres, as soon as the lirst a'cIIow spots showed on 

 the green skin, and, carefulh' wrapped in paper, the\' 

 were dispatched on their land or sea journcA . l"he\' 

 ripened gradualh' on the wa^- and became edible in 

 about fort\ da\ s. Orange trees have now almost com- 

 pleteh' disappeared from Ih'eres, \vhich could not hold 

 ont against the competition of the more sheltered places 

 on the Riviera, and especialh" of those more distant 

 countries which our present means of communication 

 have brought so near. The Orange trees of ITeres 

 fared no better than did formerh its Sugar Canes, \\hicli 

 in the ilfteenth rentur\- covered wide stretches of land, 

 but which vanished when the Indian and Brazilian sugar 

 appeared on the market. 



