312 
JOUENAL OF THE KOYAL HOETICULTUEAL SOCIETY. 
It might be said, especially with regard to Oranges — why undertake 
such a troublesome and expensive job, when shiploads of Oranges are 
already imported from various places ? Well, no one will say that Apples 
are not grown in this country in large quantities — the bewildering 
number of varieties at the Shows testifies to this — yet shiploads of Apples 
come from Canada and the United States. 
What is being done in America with regard to fruit trees should be 
a lesson to the rulers of the British Empire. 
I have left out of consideration a large number of varieties of the 
Citrus tribe which are to be found in India, such as Lemons, Limes, and 
Citrons, &c. The latter might be utilised in India and elsewhere for 
making candied citron-peel. On one occasion I gave some Citrons to a 
lady friend, and explained to her how this preserve was made. She 
turned out a candied peel which was much finer than any I could obtain 
in the shops, and the late Mr. Philip Crowley of Waddon always had 
most excellent home-made citron-peel. 
The number of varieties of Citron to be found in India is astonishing, 
as a glance at the ' Oranges and Lemons of India and Ceylon ' will show. 
There is one fruit which must not be omitted in this sketch. It is the 
red-fleshed Pummelo of Bombay. When cut across, its pulp is of the 
colour of raw beef, and it is the thinnest- skinned Pummelo that I ever 
came across. It is fine-flavoured and juicy, and when the large juice 
vesicles are taken out and mixed with sugar they are delicious. This 
Pummelo is of the size of a child's head, and sometimes of the size of a 
child's head affected with hydrocephalus ! 
I have done with these fine fruits, but there is one plant which should 
be grown largely in India itself — I mean the Date Palm. In Imperial 
Gardens experiments might be systematically undertaken with the 
innumerable varieties of the Date Palm which are known in Asia and 
Africa ; about loO at least, although not all of first-class quality. The 
success obtain evl with these trees by the Superintendent of the Saharun- 
pore Garden proves undoubtedly that the notion that the Date tree cannot 
be grown successfully in India for its fruit is an antiquated superstition. 
India is written with five letters, but it is as large as Europe without 
Kussia ! The Date tree experiments, if undertaken, should be under 
the care of a practical Date grower imported from the Persian Gulf. 
It is not intended in this sketch that Imperial Gardens should have 
anything to do with growing flower-plants and vegetables. That is 
already done in provincial horticultural gardens. The object should be 
to collect in one place, and under one supervision, as many of the choice 
fruit trees that can be grown in that locality, for the purpose of studying 
them, describing them, classifying them, and discovering the best mode 
of cultivating them, with the object of disseminating them throughout 
the Empire in suitable localities, for the health and enjoyment of the 
people, and for commercial purposes. 
