The Florida agriculturist. [volume] (DeLand, Fla.) 1878-1911, 1884-09-24

do not describe, but which we know were
not oranges.
/ have thought for moment that the
orange was originally in the canaries,
when Louis da Cadamosto, in his voyage
in Guinea, written in 1463, speaks in a
seemingly truthful manner of this tree
being well known in those islands; but
| have remarked that not word is said
of it in the history of the discovery and
conquest or the Canaries, written in 1902
by NJ. Jean de Bethencourt, in which,
however, he speaks of palms and other
trees. Consequently, believe that from
Spain and Portugal the organge passed
into these islands, where, i'll sixty years,
it had certainly multiplied and become
known.
Leon, the African, who wrote at the
end of the fifteenth century the descrip-
ton of the interior of this country, even
to beyond Mount Atlas, where now there
are so many oranges among the palm
trees, found none, except i'll the King
dom of Cano (ancient Canopus, near
Egypt and we know that this district
must have had for long time CONNER
cial relations with the Arabs, who had
already introduced the orange tree into
Egypt and upon the coasts of the Medi-
terranean.
We should then conclude that to the
Arabs Western Africa is indebted for
this plant, which would thrive there as
well as at Medeira and the Canaries,
! where it had been cultivated since 1863.
Before this era it was known only at
| Morocco, wher the Arabs had carried it,
and its culture extended scarcely beyond
that country, which had been for long
| time acquainted with Europe.
If, in Homer's time, there had been
oranges upon this coast, they must have
multiplied infinitely, and would not have
escaped the observation of our naviga-
tors, who would have placed the fact in
their variations but it was. reserved for
Europe to enrich with this tree those
happy climates where the ancients had
placed the fortunate isles and the de-
| lightful gardens of the daughters OF
Atlas.
/ will not pause to combat the opinion
adopted by some writer that the ancient.
knew the orange under the generic name
| of citrus, or mald medicd. 1t is impOs-
sible to apply to it the descriptions made
of this tree by Theophrastus, Virgil,
Pliny, and the most part of those who
have copied them; and if this opinion
has some seeming foundation, in regard
to the lemon, it is entirely inadmissible
for the orange.
The more judicious writer's have seen
the falsity of it, but have imagined an
other hypothesis no better founded.
1t was an old prejudice, generally re-
ceived among cultivators, that in graft
ing successfully one species upon anoth-
er, either new species were obtained, or
extraordinary fruit, which resembled at
the same time two species. They attrib-
ute to this operation, which they consid-
er very difficult of success, the varieties
produced by fertilization, and of which
they did not know the origin.
This opinion was also adopted by the
Arabs. ADD -Allatif tells us that in
Egypt it was believed t'that the banana
tree came originally from the mingling
of the colocasie and the stone of the
date, and to produce this composite veg
etable tits necessary to bury date-stone
i'll the interior of colocasie, and thus to
plant it."
Prosper Alpin reports the same opin-
ion in another manner, and instructs us
concerning the belief that was held in
this country relative to the sycamore
(fcus syc0mOruS). L.), which was re-
garded as the product of a graft of fig
tree upon the mulberry. He said that
some pretend that banana (naus0 para
disidca. H. was the product of a graft
of sugar-cane upon the colocasie (drum
c0hocdsid. Id See the translation of
Abd-Allatif, by M. de Sacy, PIP. 2S and
105.
This prejudice or opinion applies chief
ly to sterile varieties of plants, and the
cultivated banana is of this number; it
is genuine monster, due to formulation,
and in which the fruit is improved at the
expense of the seed. We know that it's
type exists in India, and there multiples
by seed. 1t is not cultivated in gardens,
because its fruit is not as good as that of
the sterile variety.
The old writer's are full of methods
relative to these operations, and of ridic-
culous recipes to sweeten fruits of dis
agreeable taste, or to change their color.
Some have applied these fancies to the
orange, and many authors have thought
that this tree owed its origin to the cit
ron grated upon the pomegranate or the
mulberry, and that the sweetness of
these fruits was but the effect Of careful
culture received in our gardens.
l might report great number of pas
sages proving how much this opinion
was believed / will, however, limit
myself to the following:
Bauhin, in his "Theatre de Bontan-
ique," after having said that to obtain
the orange one must graft it upon the
citron tree, adds that the orange, un-