November i, 1887.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
323 
fine aromatic flavor. Dr. Trimen, the Director, 
searcbod among the Garden rocords, and found that 
His Highness, Ibrahim Tasha of Egypt, in 1817 had 
sent a present to tho Peradeuiya Garden of a col- 
lection of various kinds of orange trees, and Dr. Trimen 
thinks that these true Mandarin orange trees, or 
their parents, may have formed part of that 
collection. 
The ' Konda Narun ' of Ceylon, which, as I said, is 
much like that of Nagpur, is eaten in its i/reen state. 
It could bo found in tho markets of Ooylou during all 
November. It had not then an unpleasant flavor, but 
was distinctly unripe, and some said that in its green 
state, it is better flavored. It is so habitually plucked, 
sold, and eaten in its green unripe state, that the 
people there have come to Took upon it as a green orange, 
which never turns of an orange color. 
As I had never hoard of a green orange, and as I 
did not believe in one, I bought two dozen of these 
green Konda Narun, on leaving Kandy, on the 11th 
Deoember. I wrapped each in a bit of newspaper, 
and packed them loosely in a covered bamboo basket. 
They travelled with mo from Kandy to Colombo by 
rail; crossed the Channel to Tuticorin on the 19th, 
and travelled all tho way by tho South-India Kail- 
way, Madras, G. I. P. and IS. I. Kailways, to Elawah, 
where I reached on the 1st January. On opening 
the basket I found only one spoilt. All the others 
were either turning, or had turned yellow. I kept 
them still wrapped iu paper till the 20th January, 
when I found that all had turned of a yellow orange 
color, only one more had spoilt in the meantime. All 
the rest (22) were sound, and of a nice flavor and 
juicy. I sent some to Luckuow, to Mr. Kidley, who 
found them also very nice. * It would appear, there- 
fore, that the Ceylon green orange has no focus standi. 
It may very probably be, however, a variety, which 
is late in taking on color, f The Nagpur orange, I 
think, colors earlier. 
The fact is, in Ceylon, not only the orange is gather- 
ed unripe, but all other fruit. I was never more 
astonished thau when 1 visited the Ceylon markets. 
All the fruit I fouud, was unripe. Even pineapples 
which ought to bo the glory of Ceylon, were unripe 
and inferior in flavor to those of Philibit. The only 
fruit worth having then, was the plantain, and this 
is one of the few which cau be gathered in an unripo 
state, and hung up to ripen, without losing much 
flavor. 
It should uot be, however, supposed that people 
in India are innocent of the vice of gathering fruit 
in its unripe state. They everywhere do so, more 
or less: 1st, because sometimes it pays them better 
to do so ; 2nd, because tho longer they leave it on 
the tree, the longer they have to watch it ; 3rd 
if they don't watch it, it is likely to be stolen, J or, 
eaten by parrots, monkeys, Sic. In the Etawah Jail 
Garden, tho purchaser of the fruit gathered all the 
Malta Oranges in October, iu their (/rem state. There 
was a 1 mela ' on, and he said ho could get a good 
price for them. Tho palate of the people of India 
lias been mostly spoilt, because they havo rarely had 
a chance of tasting a delicious fruit, well ripened on 
the. tire. The mango and tho plantain aro perhaps 
exceptions, as they cau be ripened olf tho tree and 
retain their flavor, if not plucked tun early, They 
often, however, spoil maugoes by endeavouring to 
brine them too early into the market. If a fruit is 
phioked just before it ripens, then its freshuess en- 
ables it, off tho tree, to continue tho change to full 
ripeness. 
* In Nov. 187t'> we took a dozen of those so-called 
mandarin oranges to Kugland as an experiment, placing 
t em iu tho n -t in our cabin, and moving them daily. 
Only one spoilt, and the rest, which wore green when 
we left Coylon, but become almost completely yellow 
ut the en I of the voyage and were in lirst-rato con- 
dition. — Kn. 
t Our climate is K wet that the oranges ore apt to 
spoil if left to ripen fully on the trees. — En. 
{ A reason which applies to gathering unripo fruit 
In Ceylon. — En. 
Besides oranges of the \Suntara' type, which are 
smooth, and of a yellowish orange color, there are 
those called ' Naringhi,' or ' Keonla.' They are rougher 
and redder. Tho latter name appears nothing but 
a modification of 'Kamala.' In other respects they 
are not very different from the Suutara orange. If 
anything, they are usually smaller, and more sour 
unless perfectly ripe, and often they have a flattened 
mamilla on the distant end. Natives ofteu make a 
distinction between 'Naringhi' and 'Keonla,' but I 
could not find auy difference. If there be any, it is 
perhaps, that some ' Naringhi ' are sweeter thau the 
' Keonla.' Tho latter, in its unripe state, is very 
sour, and unless thoroughly ripened on the tree, or, 
as some say, off the tree, it is hardly edible. 
By December and Christmas time all the 'Suu- 
taras ' aro gathered. They are left so long on tho 
trees, because they fetch a good price during Christ- 
mas week. They would improve vastly iu flavour if 
left on the tree for another fortnight or three weeks. 
Some varieties, however, if left too long on the tree, 
dry up and become juiceless, especially if the trees 
are not watered. Whether this depends on the soil, 
tho climate, or the nature of the variety, I do not 
know. 
The ' Keonla ' orange sweetens later, and is better 
for beiut; kept on the tree till the end of January. 
It thus comes in as a latu orange. It does not ap- 
pear, however, in great favor, probably on account 
of its sourness. It is nevertheless a good cropper. It 
is fouud everywhere, but I am not aware that there 
is anywhere in India any great centre of trade iu 
the 'Keonla' orange, as there is in its more popular 
sister, the ' Suntara ' orange. 
Besides the foregoiug type of orange, there is another, 
and a totally distinct one. It is larger and closer 
skinned, and with a totally different flavor. I mean 
that of the Malta orango type. Although I have 
met with many varieties of oranges of this type 
iu many parts, I don't think they are of Indian 
origiu. This variety of orange probably came origin- 
ally from Chiua, and recently this type has been 
re-introduced by three or more different persons. 
Colonel Clarke, then Deputy Commissioner of (inj- 
rauwala iu the Punjab, introduced the Malta blood 
oruuge there, between 1852 and 1856. 
I introduced the blood, egg, and common round 
oranges of Malta into Luckuow, iu November ISiSS, 
together with the Mandarin orange and Malta lemon. 
These were budded on the Seville, ami through their 
stock, I also obtained the Malta Seville orange. 
Mr. C. Nickels, of tho ' Passewa ' Factory, Jaun- 
pore, introduced tho Malta blood orange fromKugland 
in 1872. It was budded on the lemon, andthrongh 
the slock he propagated what may now be called 
the English lemon also. About the same time, Mr. 
Nickels introduced by seed what he calls the Suez 
Orange. This is the same as the Malta common round 
orange, and is a very well. flavored variety. It was 
taken at Suez and issued to the passengers bound 
to Bombay. 
Of course, the Malta orange trees of Lucknow, 
since 1803, have been distributed almost everywhere. 
Curiously enough, uatives often call this Sylhet orange. 
It has, however, nothing to do with that [oosu-skinucil 
type of orange, which is in every way different. It 
is only in Tanjoro that I mot with a variety of the 
Malta type, which had a vermicular name, although 
it is found in many parts of India. This would point 
to its not being of indigenous origin. 
Tho Oujranwala blood orango must havo also been 
distributed to some extent iu tho Punjab since 1852-50. 
Irrespective of these recent introductions, before 
the Mutiny, thorn was an oraugo tree, of the Malta 
type, in one part of the Padshabagh, in I.ucknow. I 
propagated this, and now it is thore known by tho 
name of ' l'aenbagh ' orange. 
In Poona I found a varioty of this type called 
'Muaacmbi.' H is supplied to the itotnluiy market. 
In Poona they told me, it keeps in rendition for a 
whole year, e th,- tr,,, and might therefore, be -• . 
ful as a lato orange. 
