Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1885-10-01
ORANGES.
Origin of a Fayorfte Fruit Its place
In History and Legend Numerous
rsn

"
Varieties.
The different species and varieties
of the citrus yield the fruits known as
the orange, citron. lemon lime, ber-
! gamot, pomplemous, shaddock, etc.
Ia each case, writes Troy Times
correspondent, the product is a pulpy
fruit, with smooth saeds and spongy
rlnd. The orange tree Is remarkable
for lis prolifcness. Thus q single
plant will sometimes produce as many
as thousand good oranges.
Whence came the orange? Gibbon
insists in his" Decline and Fall of the
Roman Empire" that among the Ro-
maus the orange and lemon were gen
orally classed. with other fruit, among
the apples. But Pliny mas expressly
stated that fruits of the citron order
We're cultivated in Italy IN his time
that is, In the first century of the
Christian era. Virgil and others
ment ton that the citron was peculiar
to Media and Persia. In fact, the
orange was not known to the ancients
who lived 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
6rst orange tree ever seen IN England
was in 1895. Some accounts credit
the Portuguese with importing it; other
say thaS the Moors who overran Spain
in the middle ages, brought the 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 country'it came
1t is believed that the lemon was
cultivated in Italy a thousand years
before the China orange No doubt
both fruits came from Asia. The
citrOn is supposed to be the Hebrew
tappnach. The word is translated in
the English version of the old Tesla
ment as apple" There is a legend
that the apple with which the serpent
tempted Eve must have been the Or
ange, which is attractive, rich in col
or, and fragrant in smell. The gold
en- apples Of the garden Of Hespel des
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.
Ia the island of Malta the blood or
ange is grown, obtaining It's name
from the blood red color of its pulp,
which is delightfully."- aromatic. II
vote could be taken all over the world
I am sure that the orange by vast
majority would be proclaimed the fav-
orite fruit. The tangerine or North
African orange with a rich and lus~
cious pulp and 3 very fragrant rind,
is very diminutive, bat the st.
Michaers orange, very sweet and
hin-skinned, is the smallest, and the
Brazil, or Navel, orange of South
America is the largest of all species Of
Oranges. The orange finds luxuriant
development IN Florida. There are
about 40, 900 trees under actual cul-
tivation. AS everyone knows, there
are sweet oranges and bitter oranges.
The bitter orange is grown in great
abundance IN Honolulu and IN Sc
vile.
The bitter orange has a distinguish
ing name which gives point to a joke
familiar TO players and play gOers.
The story runs thus: A favorite actor
had offended his audience, and re-
ceived q hint next day that he 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
filled 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 of intention to apologize,
but, though comic performer. had
qualm of dread in his heart. By way
of s. gentle hint. some rpffian in the
gallery flung an orange at him, which
struck him on the breast. and he
caught the missile ere it could fall GA
the stage. Examining it very curi~
ously, he advanced to the footlights
where carefully cycling it through his
eyeglass, he exclaimed. at last, {. An
orange, do believed" when, looking
up in the direction whence 1t had been
hurled, and bowling with mock polite
ness to his assailant, he added: But
not a civil orange" The fruit in fact
was Seville orange, and the equi-
woke IN pronunciation was at once SO
true that the audience, forgett-
ing their anger, greeted the actor with
a shout of bravo, Dobbs!" 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 town 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.
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