610 



THE ORANGE FAMILY. 



England. The flowers differ from those of the lime in being red exter- 

 nally. 



1853. The true Lemon, C. Limonum, Fott. (C. Medica, var. Limon, W.; 

 Limonier or Citronnier, Fr. ; Limonier, Ger.; Citroen, Dutch; Limone, 

 ItaL; and Limon, Span.) Leaves ovate-oblong, pale-green with a winged 

 stalk, flowers red externally, fruit pale-yellow, with a juicy and very acid 

 pulp. Unlike the other kinds of citrons, the lemon on the Continent is 

 generally raised from seed, and hence the great difference in quality of the 

 fruit obt-ained in the shops. 



1354. The Citrony C. Medica, L. (Cidratier, Fr.; Citronier, Ger.; 

 Limoen, Dutch; Cedro or Cedrato, Ital. ; and Limon, Span.) Leaves 

 oblong, flowers purple externally, and fruit yellow, large, warted, and fur- 

 rowed ; rind spungy and thick, very fragrant ; pulp subacid. Supposed to 

 be the Median or Persian apple of the Greeks. As an ornamental tree, it is 

 one of the best of the genus Citrus. A delicate sweetmeat is prepared from 

 the rind of the fruit, and the juice with sugar and water forms lemonade, and 

 is used to flavour punch and negus, like that of the lemon. The Madras 

 citron is the largest and best variety, and has been grown to an enormous 

 size, both in England and Scotland. 



1355. Propagation and Culture. — All the kinds will root by cuttings, 

 either of the young wood partially ripened, planted in sand in spring, and 

 covered with a bell-glass ; or of ripe wood put in in autumn, kept cool 

 through the winter, and placed on heat when they begin to grow in the 

 spring. Grafting and budding, however, are the usual and the best modes 

 of propagation, and the stocks may either be raised from seeds or cuttings : 

 citron and shaddock stocks are esteemed the strongest, and those of the 

 Seville orange the hardiest. For ornament the plants are generally grown 

 in pots or boxes (see 423 and 424) ; but for fruit and also for ornament, 

 when the luxuriance of the tree is an object, they will thrive best when 

 planted in the free soil in a house devoted to them ; or against a flued or 

 conservative wall, to be covered with glass in the winter season. At Bed- 

 dington they were planted against a wall, and protected by a temporary 

 structure ; and in the Duke of Argyle's garden at Whitton, where Miller 

 informs us the citron was grown as large and as perfectly ripe as it is in 

 Italy or Spain, the trees were trained against a south wall, flued, over 

 which glass covers were put when the weather began to be cold. The finest 

 oranges and lemons m Paris, some years ago, were grown by M. Fion 

 against a wall like peach-trees ; and in Devonshire, at Combe Royal, Lus- 

 combe, Butleigh, and other places, all the kinds are grown against the open 

 garden walls, and protected during winter, not by glass, but by wooden 

 shutters. In the south of Devonshire, at Luscombe, orange-trees have with- 

 stood the winter in the open air upwards of a hundred years, and produced 

 fruit as large and fine as any from Portugal (see G. M. ii. p. 29, vi. p. 704, 

 X. p. 36). All the kinds of Citrus require a loamy soil, richly manured, 

 well drained at bottom, and rendered on the surface pervious to water, by 

 the soil being unsifted and mixed Avith fragments of freestone. When 

 grown in pots or boxes a richer soil, better drained, is required than when the 

 trees are planted in a border. Being evergreens, and the sap in consequence 

 circulating during the winter (718), the soil, even in mid-winter, ought 

 never to be allowed to become so dry as might be the case were the trees 

 deciduous. When any of the sorts are grown for their fruit for the table, 



