Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1885-10-01
ORANGES.
origin of a Favorite Fruit Its Place
In History and Legend - Numerous
sEariasIe&


4 The different species and varieties
of the citrus yield the fruits known as
the orange, citron, lemon lime, ber~
gamot, pomplemous, shaddock, etc
In each case, writes a Troy Times
correspondent, the product is PUPPY
/ fruit. with smooth seeds and aspongy
rind. The orange tree is remarkable
for its prolificness. Thus a single
plant will sometimes produce as many
as thousand good oranges.
Whence came the orange2 Glbbon
/ insists in his" Decline and Fall of the
Roman Empire" that among the Ro-
mans the orange and lemon were gem
orally classed. with other fruit, among
the apples. But Pliny has expressly
stated that fruits of the citron order
were cultivated in Italy IN his time
that is, in the first century of the
Christian era. Virgil and others
mention that the citron was peculiar
to Media and Persia In fact, the
orange was not known to the anclents
who lived a few centuries before the
Christian era. 1t is native of CHINA
with which The heroic Greeks and
Romans had scarcely any intercourse.
This fruit did not come into Europe
until the sixteenth century, and the
first orange tree ever seen IN England
was in 1895. Some accounts credit
the Portuguese with importing it; other
say that the Moors who overran Spain
in the middle ages, broughtthe orange
from Arabia, planting it largely at
Seville. and that its cultivation IN
Sicily, Rome. and the South of France
followed. Hence the term China
orange at once names the fruit and
mentions from what countryit came
Tt is believed that the lemon was
cultivated in Italy a thousand years
before the China orange. No dor bt
both fruits came from Asia. The
citron is supposed to be the Hebrew
tappuach The word is translated in
the English version Of the old Tesla
ment as apple" There is legend
that the apple with which the serpent
tempted Eve must have been the or
anee. which is attractive, rich in col
or, and fragrant in smell. The gold
en- apples Of the garden Of Hespeld es
may have come from the same source,
and the one tree that bore them has
been thought to correspond with the
tree of life in the Garden of Eden.
In the island of Malta the blood or
ange is grown, obtaining its name
from the blood red color of It's pulp,
which is delightfully."- aromatic, If
vote could be taken all over the world
I am sure that the orange by a vast
majority would be proclaimed the fav-
orite fruit. The tangerine or North
African orange with rich and lus~
cious pulp and very fragrant rind,
is very diminutive, bat the st.
Mchaeps orange, very sweet and
| thin skinned, is the smallest, and the
Brazil, or Navel, orange of South
America is the largest of all species of
| oranges. The orange finds luXuriaut
development IN Florida There are
about ITO, 900 trees under actual Gull
tivation. AS everyone knows, there
are sweet oranges and bitter oranges.
The bitter orange is grown in great
abundance in Honolulu aad IN Sc
Vile
The bitter orange has a distinguish
ing name which gives point to joke
familiar to players and play goers.
! The story runs thus: A favorite actor
had offended his audience, and re-
ceived a hint next day that lie must
apologize on the stage, or run the risk
OF having the heater torn to pieces
before his eyes. In due course the
doors were opened and the house was
filed in few minutes. The business
of The play brought the peccant actor
on the stage, apparently unconscious
that the audience had crow to pick
with him. Proceeding as if nothing
out of the way was impending, he
gave no sign ofintention To apologize,
but, though comic performer. had d
oualm of dread in his heart. By way
Of a gentle hint. some rutiian in the
gallery flung an orange at him, which
struck him on the breast, and he
caught the missile ere it could fall on
the stage. examining it very curi~
ously, he advanced to the footlights
where carefully cycling it through his
eveglass, he exclaimed. at last, An
orange, / do believer when, looking
up in the direction whence it had been
hurled. and bowling with mock polite-
ness to his assailant, he added But
not a civil orange The fruit in fact
was a Seville orange, and the equi-
woke in pronunciation was at once SO
true that the audience, forgett,
ing their anger, greeted thr actor with
a shout Of Bravo, Dobbs!n and call
ed up the gallery to ask why that
chap who had thrown the orange
was not thrown down the stairs.
Almost every state in the union
has a tom named Orange.
The orang-bud wreath of the bride
of the present time is very clearly the
representative of the garland or crown
which it was considered necessary to
place upon the head of every maiden
who was about to become a wife.
0YertaXing the Brain