98 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 
ity and energy out of the inhabitants. Many fruits barely 
escape being delicious through some apparent caprice of 
Nature's. Having got together all the materials for the most 
luscious of products, she spoils it all by witholding one ingre- 
dient or putting in too much of another. This charge, how- 
ever, cannot be brought against her with regard to the Jamai- 
can orange. It is the most juicy and luscious of fruits to be 
found anywhere. It is a question whether one eats or drinks 
it. Even those who are ordinarily not fond of oranges agree 
upon the qualities of this. The general excellence is perhaps 
due to the directness with which it leaves the tree for the table. 
No doubt it loses something in being tranported a thousand 
miles or so. The orange is much used for the "tiffin" or early 
breakfast, which every normal Jamaican takes before rising. 
The real breakfast seldom comes before nine o'clock. A fav- 
orite way of preparing this fruit for eating is to pare off the 
outer oil-bearing skin with a sharp knife leaving the white 
inner portion. Then cut it in half across the "pegs" as the * 
sections are called and eat it out of the hand. The natives 
have no use for a spoon in eating an orange; such methods 
are left for Yankee tourists. Most of this delicious fruit is 
said to come from wild trees which spring up anywhere. It 
is certainly cheap enough — three good specimens may be 
bought for one penny, American money. 
Sweet oranges are usually picked when they are mature 
or "full" and the skin still green. One never sees trees of 
this variety loaded down with ripe fruit, but the Seville or 
bitter orange, being of little value except for the oil in the 
skin is allowed to ripen on the tree and falls to the earth un- 
noticed. Such trees are often as thickly hung with their 
bright orange fruit as any Northern apple tree is with apples, E 
and makes as fair and attractive a picture as one would wish 
to look upon. In parts of the island, the natives make a drink, 
similar to lemonade from the pulp. The juice is mixed with 
