The Florida agriculturist. [volume] (DeLand, Fla.) 1878-1911, 1884-09-10
CHAPTER ".
HISTORY OF THE CITRUS.

nlSlOb1 LIE NiiNN'''
ART. I.-Studies upon the citrOn tree-In-
digenous IN Media-Ndtrdlized an Pal
estine, Greece, and Hdly-Ddte Of ats
trdnsmigrdtiO0.
Centuries roll on before man gathers
upon one soil the many plants scattered
over the surface of the globe. lie can
for long time content himself with the
productions which Nature may have
given abundantly in his own country {;
but, as civilization extends his needs,
his knowledge and connections, he lays
all climates under contribution to en-
rich his native soil, of which he multi
plies the resources and means by labo-
rious industry.
1t is thus that we see the fruits of Asia
growing beside those of Europe and of
Africa, and new trees, taken from distant
regions, succeed to plants less useful.
The citron, lemon and orange trees are
the last among the exotic productions
which have contributed to the embelllsh-
ment of our gardens. Placed by Nature
in various climates, they have become
known to Europeans at different epochs,
and as the result of very dissimilar
events. rF
1t seems that the citron first appeared.
IIIOlSCIlOuC ~ W 90 COOh
gated in many parts of Persia, where the
Hebrews and the Greeks could easily
learn of it. 1t is not possible, however,
to fix the precise date when these two
nations began its cultivation, nor by
what steps hisculture penetrated to the
European countries. AS soon as the
Hebrews were established in the Land of
Promise, they began to have Intercourse
with the Assyrians and PerSians, and it
Is reasonable to suppose that they would
be the first to know Ct this beautiful
plant, and to slat.iraiize it in the fertile
tits, however, astonishing that in all
the Bible one meets not a single passage
where this tree is mentioned e2 q
s1Ihave thought sometimes with acrowd
of interpreters and commentators upon
this. book that the. tree haddr, whose
fruit the Hebrews carried at their Feast
of Tabernacles, was no other than the
citron tree.
That which gives probability to this
opinion is the custom always maintained
among the Jews, of presenting them
selves in the synagogue on the day of
tabernacles with citron in hand. This
usage, existing still to-day among them,
and to which they attach great impor-
tance,g dates, without doubt, from an
epoch very remote, since there is men
ton of it in the Jewish antiquities of
Josephus and Samaritan medals have
been found expressing on one side the
loaldce of the Jews, and upon the re-
verse of which one sees citrons fastened
to a palm tree.
Ali these data, however, do not prove
that the tree hdd0r is the citron-it is
necessary to examine the words in Levitt
IF Ioca,Nh1c m HicnnUar
what gave rise to this opinion. "Yo GU
shall take" said Moses to his people,
:|You shall take, ON the first day, fruits
of the tree hdddr, of palm branches,
boughs of the thickest trees, and willows
that cross the length of rapid waters,
and rejoice before the Lord your God. T"
(Lev., C. %, 40.)
If this custom had not been consecra-
ted since so many centuries in the reli-
gious rites of the Jews, no person could
have supposed that Moses wished to
speak of the citron under the name OF
hdddr. This word, very far from being
the proper name of a thing, signifies,
according to the Seventy, only the fruit
of the finest tree, and, according to our
Latin version, .fr,tctU Hgai speciosi.
Now, according to the acceptation Civ
en- to this word, hadqr, the command OF
Moses enjoined upon the people only a
choice of the fruit of the finest tree,
without determining the species to be pre-
ferred. They were masters of the choice,
and there is little doubt that as soon as
they knew the citron they would substi-
tute it, for the, tree Of which they had
made use until them. "a
The precept was generic- it would
always refer to the most beautiful tree
- 1 L L. 4 Il
citron was, without doubt, for a long
time, and is, perhaps, still the finest tree
known.
The words of Josephus come to the
help of my argument. This historian
does not say that the law directed the
Hebrews to carry in the Feast of Taber-
nacles fruits of the citron tree; he only
says that the law prescribed to offer
! burnt-oferings, and to render to God
thanksgivings, by carrying in their
hands myrtle and willow, with palm