January 30. THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 343 
There is no reason to suppose that any ancient Roman had 
even seen the fruit of the orange. The common account 
is, that the orange was introduced into Europe by the 
Portuguese as late as the sixteenth century; and it is added 
that the original orange-tree brought from the East was 
still growing at Lisbon, near the end; of the last century, 
in the garden of Count San Lorenzo (Le Grand d’Aussy, 
ib. p. 100). 
“It appears, however, that this account is not exact, and 
that the merit of having introduced the orange-tree into 
Europe does not belong to the Portuguese. According to 
the recent researches of Professor Targioni (as abstracted 
in “ Historical Notes on Cultivated Plants,” in the Journal 
of the Horticultural Society of Loudon ), the orange-tree was 
introduced into Europe from Arabia by the Moors; and 
was cultivated at Seville, towards the end of the twelfth 
century, and at Palermo, and probably at Rome, in the 
thirteenth. Le Grand d’Aussy likewise shows that some 
plants of it existed in Dauphine in the year 1333. Other 
writers have supposed that it was brought from Asia by the 
Venetians or Genoese. But whatever may have been the 
precise time at which the orange-tree was introduced into 
Europe, and whatever the channel by which it came, it is 
certain that Gibbon has committed an anachronism of at 
least ten centuries, in ascribing the cultivation of the orange 
to the Romans of the first period of the Empire. L.” 
We differ from L. in his opinion that the Orange was 
entirely unknown to the ancients, and it is still our belief, as 
we published some twenty five years since, that the Romans 
“ became possessed of the Orange in the fourth century." 
(History of English Gardening , p. 17.) We so believe, 
because we think that the fruit known to us as the Orange is 
the Assyrian or Medean Apple of Pliny. He says (Nat. 
Hist., 1. xii., c. 3), the Assyrian Apple, by some called 
the Medean, is an antidote against poison; and we know 
that the juice of the Orange and of other fruits containing 
citric acid, is used to check the effects arising from narcotic 
poisons. The leaf, he says, is like that of the Arbutus, 
and interspersed among thorns, and so is that of the Orange. 
Sometimes the fruit itself is not eatable (Pomum ipsum 
alias non manditur) ; but it excels in fragrance, as do the 
leaves, whence it is placed among clothing, to which it 
imparts its perfume, and keeps from them noxious vermin. 
The tree bears fruit at all seasons, for whilst some are falling 
others are ripening, and others are only partly matured. 
People have endeavoured to convey them to their own 
countries in earthen vessels, an air-vent being provided by 
holes to the roots. But only among the Medians and 
Persians will it grow. The seed, or, as Theophrastus and 
Virgil allege, the fruit was used by the aristocracy of Parthia, 
cooked with their food, to impart a grateful odour to their 
breath. No other tree is so esteemed among the Medes. 
Palladius (He Re Rustica , l. iv., c. 10.), writing in the 
fourth century, had overcome the difficulty of removing this 
fruit-tree ; for he states, in his farms in Sardinia, and in the 
Neapolitan territory', where the soil and atmosphere are 
warm, and the moisture abundant, by degrees he had been 
enabled always to succeed in obtaininig its fruit. He did 
not, however, ripen it well, or he was fond of curds and whey, 
for he recommends it to be soaked in “ sheep’s milk” (ovillo 
lacte) ! However, as Matthiolus states, Italy then produced 
throe kinds of Orange, “ the acid, the sweet, and the vinous- 
flavoured.” It must be remarked, moreover, that Palladius 
mentions a mode of culture whereby the fruit was rendered 
sweet. 
We are quite aware that the fruit mentioned as above, by 
Pliny and Palladius, is considered by many to be that known 
to us as the Citron ; but some, as Dodoens, Lobel, Manar- 
dus, Brunfelius, Turner, and others, are of opinion that it 
is our Orange. 
Whence the name of Orange is derived is doubtful. Some 
derive it from Arantia , the name of a town in Achaia, and 
others from aurum, on account of its golden-coloured fruit. 
At all events, it takes the namo from an original acknowledged 
by all the nations of Europe, for in German it is Pomcrangen, 
in French Pomme d'Orange, in Italian Arancio, and in Spanish 
Naranzas. Nicander, who wrote 140 years before the birth 
of Christ, speaks of the Median Apple under the name of 
Narantzian. His words in his “ Alexipharmacis ” are these— 
to gySov nyAov ten to gthiKou to vepavT^Lov. That is, in 
English, “The Median apple is the Medican, and the 
Nerantzian."~\ 
GREENHOUSE AT THE END OF A COTTAGE. 
“I propose erecting a small greenhouse at the west end 
of my cottage, between the gable thereof and the boundary- 
wall of my property; but am doubtful whether such a 
position, facing south, but overshadowed by the cottage, 
may be favourable, seeing that it is but little exposed to the 
sun. I should be glad if you would say whether the position 
is good. I intend making the greenhouse span-roofed. 
Would you recommend that? And for such a small house, 
how should I heat it—by stove or flue? —William J. 
Easton.” 
[We thought we had answered this last week, and regret 
that it has been mislaid. It is a perfect pattern of an in¬ 
quiry (being accompanied by drawings), and we will do our 
best to oblige you. In such a position a span-roof would be 
best. The height would be according to your own fancy— 
nine or ten feet at the ridge, and six or seven at the side 
walls would do. You will grow the commoner greenhouse 
plants very well in it, provided you give plenty of air. For 
this purpose you should have a sash on the east side, and 
one on the west side, made to open. This, however, will 
add to the expense. Now, in such a small house there 
would bo no necessity for rafters, except for the end ; sash- 
bars resting on the ridge-board, and the wall-plates at the 
side would do. And supposing that you had glass in the 
south front, above three feet from the ground, and glass 
at the north end, and a door there where you now show a 
wall, by the opening of moveable windows in these you 
could command enough of air, without moving any part 
of the roof, and this would be a great advantage. As you 
seem to have grass, and a walk behind the greenhouse, 
much of the pleasure would consist in being able to walk 
through it. For the sake of economy, there need not be so 
much glass in the north end as in the front; though it 
would look better if it were the same. In such a house, the 
pathway should be in the middle, and from two-and-a-lialf 
to three feet in width. This would leave three feet on each 
side, and this you might appropriate to a stage on each side 
for plants, each stage having three or four shelves ; or you 
might have a table all along each side some three feet from 
the ground, and Mosses and Ferns growing on the ground 
beneath; or you might make a conservatory of it, and 
plant against the two walls, Camellias, Oranges, Cacti, 
Acacias, &c. Now, the heating of such a small place is 
worst of all. Could you take a couple of pipes from a kitchen 
boiler ? Could you get a small boiler placed outside the 
house somewhere, and heat that little boiler with gas, as 
lately alluded to ? If not, then you must either have a small 
flue, or a small boiler for hot water; and in either case, we 
would place the flue or the pipes under the pathway, if we 
made a conservatory of the house. The flue we would 
place there, however we arranged the house. Sometime 
ago Mr. Fish described heating such a house with a four- 
inch flue, covered first with a slate, and then a paring tile; 
these tiles forming part of the floor. The flue came in at 
one end, went within two feet of the other, and returned 
again to the chimney, and he says nothing could answer 
better for keeping a medium heat of from 4f)° to 45°, 
even in cold weather. A small stock-hole covered over, at 
the north side of the house, would do either for flue or | 
boiler. If you had a stage, and preferred hot water, a flow ; 
and return three-inch pipe should go on each side of the 
house below the stage. IVe confess, however, that were the 
place ours, and despite of increased taxation, we would not 
like to go to the expencc of heating merely such a small 
place, but would take in the whole space between the two 
walls, some twenty feet by nine, so as to bring the south 
end of the greenhouse nearly as far forward as the front of 
the house; and then what a beautiful promenade you would 
have, and the glass would cost you almost as little as any¬ 
thing you could have. If such you resolved to do, we would 
provide some narrow ventilators in the apex of the roof, in 
addition to the openings at the end, and having done so, 
we would place strong sasli-bars, say one-and-a-lialf inch by 
two-and-a-lialf, some twenty inches apart, and we would 
place squares of that length crosswise, and some ten or 
twelve inches wide. This would be the most economical 
