The Florida agriculturist., 1885-01-14
CHAPTER N.

CHAPTER IN.
ART. IN.-The Free Street Grunge Tree
Prejudices of agricultural Writer'S Con-
cerning its Eristence-F'ollowed By the
rs-CircumstdnceS Uhich hare
DtatIe Il KnoCn IN Ligur5d-1 dCdntdgeS
or its Culture Conclusion.
1t would be interesting to those inves-
tigating the history of the citrus, to know
whether the orange, Haturalized in
America, was the sweet orange or the
bigarade. have uselessly read the writ
ings on the subject for the purpose of
learning the truth; none of them speak
in manner to enlighten us. Yet not
withstanding this silence, all agree that
the sweet orange was carried there at the
same time as the bigarade, or, at least,
soon after.
The woods seen there now are, in part,
of this species, and it is natural that, be-
ing cultivated in Europe, it should be
taken there by preference.
have several times consulted plant
ers of st. Domingo upon the nature of
the orange trees of that country.
According to their reports it would APP
pear that the sweet-fruited orange tree is
still in that tisland-only garden plant
multiplied by graft, and having no thorn
The bigarade tree, on the contrary,
[called by them bitter oranges,l is found
in the woods in savage state; but the
Spanish colonists have assured me that
upon the continent one may see woods
OF the two species.
1t is surprising that the success of
those plantations which renew them
selves by seed, and give sweet fruit with
out being grated, have not enlightened
l<Nl
these trees by seed. / haven means of
knownteieEs f9tugal. As to. Spain think
it is nssSssc 10 iced there. An attentive
examination of the sweet orange trees OF
that country has satisfied me that all are
grated.
1t is certain that the method is still ig-
nored in Sicily and Naples, and not more
than half century has elapsed since
its first introduction in Liguria.
| do not know, indeed, of any writer on
agriculture who has spoken of the sweet
orange as the mother species, capable of
perpetuating and reproducing itself by
its own seed. All speak only of its null
tiplication by gratis, or by layers, and
the greater part have given methods for
moderating the harshness of free fruits
by means of infusions of the seed, or
other similar proceedings.
We read this, not only in the agricul-
ture of Porta, Charles Etienne, Olivier
de Series, Rozier, Gallo, &C., but again
i'll that of Herrara, himself Spaniard,
and one who should have known the
properties of this tree in America. Oil
Xier de Series expresses himselfin these
Words "It is requisite to graft these
trees i'll order to make them produce
fruits entirely good and delightful, with
out which means they could not be made
to do so." (Theatre of Agri., p 632.)
Tanara, whose writings date from a
century later, is the first to reject all these
methods as popular errors, but does not
recognize the existance of a free species
of sweet fruit, and advises recourse to
graft for multiplying this species, "be-
cause these are his wordsJ the natural
orange delays twelve or thirteen years to
give fruit, and only yields bad quality"
This opinion is followed by all the best
writers, and even by more modern ones.
Ferraris is the only author who has
known of the existance of the orange tree
OF sweet fruit growing from seed. This
writer, the first to examine deeply into
the culture of this tree, lived in time
1856 when this method, already spread
al AulSIlCd, hd0 ldOObbAy PdooCO adhCO
Portugal and other parts Of Europe. He
ought then to have AN idea of it. Never
theless, he speaks of it as a popularity
accorded by Nature to some of the more
favored climates, as the PHILIPPINE Isles
and China Ger, PIP "A, 450), and he.
counsels European gardeners to supply
bv graft the defect of climate. Thus, in
some countries, Nature, more adroit, rem
ders art useless, because the seed of do
mesticated orange trees give abundantly
of sweet fruit without need Of being
grated. But this same benefit, accorded
not by the most propitiOas Nature to
every climate, admonishes the gardener
of the necessity of correcting by graft the
natural defect of the wild orange" (Fer.
Hesperides, p. 450.) He also tells of some
specimens seen at Corfu, and at Rome,
but regards them as phenomena, seeing
that he establishes as a ma1i@nm that
the most perfect seed of the sweetest or
ange will yield only plants bearing sour
and wild fruit, which require to be inn
proved by graft. Der, p. 450.)
such is the force of habit and prejudice