424 THE VEGETABLE WORLD. 
St. Michael’s should be small, and flattened at the ends, with a 
thin smooth rind, the glands small, and the flesh a light ash- 
coloured pulp ; but many coarse varieties come to market. Those 
from Valentia resemble St. Michael’s. Lisbon and Malta oranges 
are larger, thicker in the rind, with glands; but the Chinese 
orange, when obtained of the best variety, excels all others for 
delicate flavour, sugary juice, and delicate aroma. The skin of 
this variety is always smooth and shining, and so thin that it 
is separated with difficulty from the flesh. The St. Michael’s is 
probably a variety of this orange. The Bitter or Seville Orange 
is the fruit of Citrus vulgaris, but there are many varieties. This 
is the fruit from which the delicate condiment, orange marmalade, 
is prepared, and from which orange-flower water is produced. 
The Orange is extensively cultivated in order to extract from 
its flowers and leaves the essential oil which they contain. In 
the South of France, but especially in Provence and Nice, the 
Orange is largely and successfully cultivated. In the South of 
Italy, about Sorrenta, whole forests of Oranges exist, the fruit 
of which is carefully harvested. 
‘On th hore, where the sea of Sorrenta 
At the foot of the Orange unrolls its blue wave,” 
sings Lamartine, France’s great modern poet. 
The Orange sometimes attains great age and dimensions. In 
the orangery of Versailles a magnificent Bitter Orange (C. biga- 
radia), known as “ the Great Constable,” is known to be upwards 
of four hundred and forty years old; its trunk is twenty feet in 
circumference, and its head rises forty feet high. It was planted 
in 1421 by the gardener of the Queen of Navarre, and came by — 
cession to Chantilly. In 1532 Francis I., having confiscated all 
the property of the Constable de Bourbon, Lord of Chantilly, who 
had been driven into open rebellion to his king and country by 
tyranny, had the precious tree, which was quite unique in E vssuripl 
transported to his orangery of Versailles, where it remains 1 
a highly flourishing state. The Bigaradier of the Dominicans, at 
Rome, dates from the year 1200. It is about thirty-three feet 
im height. The largest of these shrubs recorded was a former 
