The Florida agriculturist., 1884-10-29

circumstances, and luxury upon all
tables. 1t was, above all, as CONNECTIONS,
that the Agrumi entered into commerce; !;
and we see by the records of Savona that
they were sent into cold parts of Italy
where people were greedy for them.
After having cultivated these species
| for the use made of their fruits, they
soon cultivated them as ornaments for
the gardens.
The monks began to fill with these
trees the courts of their monasteries, in
| climates suited to their continual growth,
and soon one found no convent not sur
rounded by them. Indeed, the courts
and gardens of these houses show us
now trees of great age; and it is said
that the old tree, of which we now see
a rejeton in the court of the convent of
st. Sabina, at Rome, was planted by st.
Dominic, about the year 1900.
This fact has no other foundation than
tradition; but this tradition, preserved
for many centuries, not only among the
monks Of the convent, but also among
the eclergy of Rome, is reported by Angus
tin Gallo, who, in 1859, speaks of this
orange as tree existing since time i'm
memorial
| to ST Dominic, we must at least refer it
| toa period soon after, that is, to the end
OF the thirteenth century, at the latest.
Nicolas Specials, in the passage cited
ON another page, in describing the havoc
made by the besiegers in the suburbs Of
Palermo, regrets the destruction of Gran
gers, or, trees of sour apples (pQnsples
! aigres) which he regards as rare plants,
enlbellishing the pleasure house of Cub
/ ba..,.s ..o5f.at ..,,'.,..g ..a
\ u Blondus Flayius, a writer OF the mid
die OF the following century, speaks Of
the orange on the coast of Amalf Ia city
of Naples,) as new plant, which as yet
had no name in scientific language,
| IBlond. Flaw, Ital. Illust., p. 4205, and
| he eXtols the valleys of Rapallo and San
| Reno, in Liglria; for the culture OF the
citrus, a rare tree in Italy. Ct5us dger
| (San Remo), these-are his words, est cit
| RI, pdLmdguG, drbOrum in Itdtid rdrissi-
asaassts1a- felaa..l Blond llaN-s Itsal- Illust-
i p. 296.)
| Lastly, Pierre de Crescent, Senator
of Bologna, who wrote in 1900 a treatise
on agriculture, speaks only of the citron
| tree. We find in his expressions mo hint
of lemon or orange.
The culture OF these trees, then, had
| been begun in the fourteenth century,
only in few places, but was extended
i'll proportion as arts and luxury adj
vanced the civilization of Europe.
| The orange was from the first valued
not alone for the beauty of it foliage and
| quality of it's fruit, of which the juice
was used in medicine, but also for the
aroma of it's flowers, of which essences
were made.
Pharmacists have employed with sue
cess the juice of lemon in making medi-
cines.
The orange tree must have been taken
| to Province about the time it entered
Liguria. 1t is to be presumed that the
city of Hyers, so celebrated for the soft
ness of its climate and the fertility of
it's soil, received it from the Crusaders,
because from this port the expeditions to
the Holy Land took their departure.
| We see, indeed, that it was greatly
multiplied there, and in 1866 the planta-
| tions of oranges within its territory were
so extensive and well grown as to pre-
sent the aspect of forest.
The territory OF Nice, so advantage
ously placed between Liguria and Prov
| ence. would necessarily receive from its
of it's climate, sheltered by the Alps,
| ttlO W lliC VI Auo SOAA' NAoiA1<soNe
by abundant waters. 1t appears that
the culture had already greatly extended
towards the middle of the fourteenth
century, as we find in the History of
Dauphiny that the Dauphin Humbert,
returning from Naples in 1886, bought
at Nice twenty plants of orange trees.
(Hist. of Dauphiny, blk. 2, p. 27l.)
From Naples and Sicily the orange and
lemon trees must have been carried into
the Roman States, into Sardinia and
Corsica and to Malta.
The islands of the Archipelago, per-
haps first received them, because,
belonging in great part to the Gen
oese and Venetians, it is probable
they were the intermediate points
whence the Crusaders of Genoa and
Venice transported the plants to their
4 homes. From these isles the trees have
afterwards spread into the delightful
coast of Salo on the shores of Lake Gar
da, where, in Gallo's time Q559) they
We're regarded as acclimated from time
i IinlInemorial. itas haH sfsng4
l., Finally, the orange and the lemon
penetrated into the colder latitudes, and
perhaps one owes to the desire of en-
Iioying their flowers and fruit, the inven-
tions Of hot-houses, afterwards called or
angeSies. (The name Of Ordngerie is a
modern word in the French language.
Oliver de Gerre does not use it-he calls
this kind of enclosure orange-houses, p.
633 The Italian language has no word