3*4 
THE TR0P1«CAL AGRICULTURIST. [November i, 1887. 
In the Bombay market I found an egg-orange, 
a'so culled 'Mussembi,' which is imported from 
Zanzibar. It is a small Malta orange, and is known 
in Bombay, either by the latter name or that of 
' Mussembi,' which is evidently a corruption of 
Mozambique. An officer of one of the coasting steam- 
ers, who knows the Zanzibar orange well, told me 
that it is far better than either the orange of Malta 
or Spain. On this same steamer, I saw some oranges 
of the Malta type, which I was told were purchased 
about a month before at Madras. . 
In Ceylon I found the Malta orange at Colombo, 
Kandy, and Hagkala, near Nuwara Eliya. It is known 
there by the name of ' Arange,' or " Pceni Dodan " 
(sweet orange.) 
At Tanjore I found two varieties of the same type- 
One of a yellowish color, called ' Spanish orange' by 
the English. The other a large, fine orange, sweet 
arid very juicy. Curiously enough, the English there 
call it ' sweet lime.' The natives call it ' Bandir.' 
It is a variety well worth propagating. It can be 
cut in halves transversely, and the interior easily 
eaten with a 6poon. 
I have left the blood oranges for the last. The 
specimens of blood oranges sent to me by Mr. Steel, 
Deputy Commissioner of Gujranwala, in my opinion, 
are the best oranges that I have tasted in India, of 
any kind. The pulp is of an orange-claret color. 
Many of the specimens were full-blooded, and smeared 
externally with a blood tinge. The juice was simply 
uecta»-like. In short, their flavor was, in my opinion, 
perfect. I thought it equal to that of the blood 
oranges of Malta, but Mr. Steel thinks it superior 
to them, and perhaps he is not wrong. Mr. Steel 
states that the soil on which they grow is a stiff 
clay, with plenty of ' kunkur ' in it- But the real 
secret, he thinks, is to bud them on the sweet 
Urn* stock. He says they are larger, but not so 
fine flavored, when budded on the ' Khatta ' or 
' Pummelow ' stock. This is a hint worth making a 
note of. If experiments are made with all sweet 
oranges, budded on the sweet lime stock, they might 
possibly lead to a revolution in the cultivation of the 
orange in India. It appears that in Gujranwala there 
is a suitable soil and climate and the best orange in 
India. There is also skill to turn these materials to 
account. Here then is a chance of creating an exten- 
sive trade in blood oranges, as a speciality of Gujran- 
wals). They are not only exquisite oranges, which, if 
properly packed, would bear long journeys, but they are 
late oranges, and therefore would not compete with 
'Suntara' oranges, which flood the Calcutta and Bombay 
markets, from Sylhet and Nagpur. The specimens were 
sent to me in February, but Mr. Steel said they were 
" barely ripe yet, and would remain on the trees till the 
middle of March. Last year, some, by careful packing, 
were kept in good condition till July." What a boon 
it would be for the people of Calcutta and Bombay, 
and, in fact, of all stations, to have such fine oranges 
in the hot weather 1 And what a chance of developing 
a fine orange trade between the Punjab and the capitals 
of India ! This fine orange appears to be little known, 
beyond the neighbourhood of Gujranwala. 
The next best blood orange I have come across in 
India, is that of Mr. 0. Nickels, of Jaunpore. He 
evidently has there a suitable soil, and has managed it 
well, and if he takes the hint about budding on the 
sweet lime stock, he might with this, and his 'Suez 
orange,' — auother fine flavored variety, — make a special- 
ity with late oranges also, in Jaunpore. 
The Lucknow blood orange, and in fact, all the 
oranges there of the Malta type, have not succeeded well. 
The former is only streaked with blood, and all want 
flavor. Of course, the former may not have been a full- 
blooded variety, in the first instance, but probably the 
noil they are in, is poor. It is almost pure sand, and 
wants clay, lime, and probably iron also, Mr. Ridley is 
making experiments in Lucknow, with a view of dis- 
covering the wants of the orange trees, and providing 
a remedy. In Lucknow, in the Cliarbagh and the 
Aislibagh, there is much better soil, and this type of 
orange might do well there. 
With regard to the Mandarin orange, it has not suc- 
ceeded either in Lucknow or in Etawah, although in 
the latter place, the noil contains a good deal of 'kunkur,' 
and is stiff. This fine orange tree is a delicate variety, 
and is almost killed by the hot winds. It hardly 
recovers before the next hot winds corre on. What 
fruit it produces is at first sour, and when ripening time 
ernes, its pulp dries up and becomes juiceless. It might 
do well where hot winds do not prevail, as on high land 
in Bengal, and in Sylhet, and may be other places. 
The only place where I have seen good fruit of the 
Mandarin orange is at Peradeniya, in Ceylon ; but there 
it did not appear to be appreciated, and is hardly cultiv- 
ated. The highlands of Ceylon, all about Kandy, and 
up to Nacoo-oya, appeared tome suitable to the develop- 
ment of a fine orange trade, and if the cultivation of 
this choice Mandarin orange were extended and 
developed, not only the local trade might be supplied, 
but also the markets of Calcutta, Madras, Bombay, 
and other places in South India. From Colombo to 
Bombay the P. and O. Steamer takes four days, and to 
Calcutta about seven days ; so that if the oranges be 
properly packed the voyage to these capitals would be 
a mere nothing. I have already mentioned how well 
the Ceylon ' Suntara ' — the nice ' Konda-narun '—bears 
a journey to long distances. 
The Seville orange, which is found in most parts of 
India and Ceylon, makes a good marmalade, and its 
decoction is a good febrifuge, but I am not aware that 
anywhere in India there is any trade in this aromatic 
orange. 
The ' khatta ' orange, which is found almost every- 
where, is also a good febrifuge, and has a fine acid pulp ; 
but there is no trade in its fruit. Native nurserymen in 
large stations make a limited trade in young ' khatta ' 
plants to be used as stock for budding the better kinds 
on ; young plants are largely used almost everywhere for 
this purpose. In Nagpur and Gujranwala, however, 
the sweet lime stock is mostly used for this purpose, 
and it would be well if native nurserymeu turned their 
attention to the sweet lime stock, as probably it influ- 
ences for the better the flavor of the sweet kinds budded 
on it. The ' khatta' stock could be still largely used 
for working all kinds of sour oranges and lemons on. 
There now remain the pummelows, lemons, limes, 
and citrons. 
The best pummelows I have seen are the thin 
skinned red pummelows of the Bombay market. They 
come in about Christmas. They are juicy, and of the 
color of raw beef internally and of a globose shape. 
There is no reason why this fine thing should not be 
extensively grown. All the other varieties of pumme- 
low I have seen in India and Ceylon are not to be 
compared with this, and are hardly worth propagating 
to any extent. 
The citrons are very little used, except for medicinal 
purposes. On the Western coast of India, they have 
many large varieties, and at Blangalore they eat the 
thick sweet skin, after peeling off the bitter rind. In 
Lucknow, and in Eampur, Rohilcund, and other places 
they make a preserve of the thick skin of the citrons, 
which they call ' Turunj.' All the citrons, both sweet 
and sour, have a dry pulp. 
From the borders of Nepal, I received a citron-like 
' khatta ' orange, of the size of a small jack-fruit, with 
a girth of 24 inches, a length of 10 inches, and a 
diameter of 7i inches. There it is called ' Kathairee- 
nimboo,' or ' Euskunkur,' or ' Beora.' It had no seeds, 
a pale sour pulp, and a thick sweet skin, which is the 
only part eaten. These specimens were sent to me by 
Major Buller. Mr. Hein, of the Lahore Governmemt 
Garden, sent me a smaller specimen of this same variety 
which, he said, is there called Gulgul. 
The true limes are the most used. They are to be 
found everywhere, and even where no other citrus is 
found, some kind of lime is sure to be seen. Never- 
theless, it is astonishing that so common a thing, so 
useful a fruit, and a tree so easily raised from seed, 
is not to be found in villages of the North-Western 
Provinces. There is probably not a village in the whole 
of India where the ' Kaghzi-nimboo' would not readily 
grow. A large and profitable trade might be made 
from the sweet limes. Although they are called limes 
