THE GUAVA, LO-QUAT, GRANADILLA, &C. Oil 



much the best mode is to grow them against a wall or trellis, either under 

 glass throughout the year, or against a wall to which sashes can be fitted 

 duruig the winter months. They may also be grown as standards in a span- 

 roofed house placed in the direction of north and south ; and if the situation 

 is warm and sheltered, the roof and sides of such a house may be entirely 

 removed in the summer season, and the ground turfed over, so as to give 

 the trees the appearance of standing on a lawn. Tall standard trees for this 

 purpose may be obtained from Genoa through the Italian warehouses. The 

 standard winter temperature for the orange is 48° with fire heat ; but as the 

 season advances it may be 15° or 20° higher ; and in summer it may vary 

 between 60° and 80°. The roots should never be kept in a temperature so 

 low as 40° ; at 45 ° a gentle circulation will be maintained, sufficient to pre- 

 vent the roots from perishing, as they very frequently do when, internally, 

 the juices of the plant are stagnant, and externally these are surrounded by 

 stagnant water, the consequence of imperfect drainage. As all the Citrus 

 tribe grow naturally in woods, and many of them in islands near the sea, a 

 .situation somewhat shaded is preferable to one fully exposed to the sun ; and 

 a very high temperature during summer is less essential than the continuation 

 of a moderate degree of heat during winter. Orange -trees will bear 

 exposure to the sun if previously in good health ; but in all cases it would 

 be advisable to place a thin canvas screen between them and the rays of the 

 sun when the plants are first set out in summer, and especially when they 

 are trained against a wall. With regard to such plants as are required to 

 be brought into a flowering state, exposure to direct solar light will expe- 

 dite such condition. In the management of orange-trees in large boxes and 

 tubs, great care is requisite to ascertain that the water reaches the roots of the 

 plants ; for the balls of soil are generally so firm and compact that the water 

 will not penetrate them, but passes off between the ball and the sides of the 

 box. The compactness of the ball is owing to the system formerly practised 

 by gardeners of sifting to a fine mould all the soil which they used in pot- 

 ting. By the present mode of using, in every case, comparatively rough, 

 turfy soil, more or less mixed with fragments of stone, balls so compact as 

 not to admit water poured on their surface can hardly occur. When orange- 

 trees in boxes are placed in the open air in the summer season, the situation 

 ought always to be thoroughly sheltered and partially shaded, more espe- 

 cially, as above observed, when the trees are first exposed, otherwise the 

 leaves will soon lose their deep green. Hence it is that orange-trees thrive 

 better in greenhouses with opaque roofs, even when not taken out in the 

 summer time, as used to be the case at Cashiobury, than any other tree, not 

 even excepting the camellia. 



SuBSECT. VIII. — The Guava, Lo-quat, Granadilla, and other fruits little known in 



British gardens. 



1356. The Guava, Psidium L. — ^There are several species, but that 

 which has been found to succeed best in British stoves is Cattley's Guava, 

 P. Cattleyanum, Lindl., an evergreen shrub or low tree, a native of China, 

 which produces abundance of fruit, about the size of gooseberries, of a purple 

 colour, juicy, and flavoured somewhat like the strawbeny. It fruits very- 

 well in a large pot in loamy soil, in a light airy situation, and the fruit ripens 

 in autumn, or in the whiter season. On the back of the conservatory at 

 Worksop, it ripens two or three dishes weekly all through the winter, and 



