Huntsville gazette., 1885-10-17
ORANGES.
Origin of q Eavorite Fruit and Its Place In
History and Legend.

Origin OIL q taVOrlte trult ana 1tS race IN
History and Legend.
The different species and varieties of
the citrus yield the fruits known as the
orange. citron. lemon. lime, bergamot,
pompelmous, shaddock. etc. In each
case the product is pulpy fruit with
smooth seeds and spongy rind. The
orange tree is remarkable for its pro-
lifcness; thus single plant will some
times produce as many as twenty thou
sand good oranges.
Whence came the orange? Gibbon
insists in his decline and Fall of the
Roman Empire that among the Ro-
mans the orange and lemon were gen.
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 Chris
tian era. Virgil and others mention
that the citron was peculiar to Media
and Persia. In fact, the orange was
not known to the ancients who lived a
few centuries before the Christian era
1t is a 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 the year 1895.
Some accounts credit the Portuguese
with importing it; Others say that the
Moors, who overran Spain in the mid
die ages, brought the orange from Ara
bia, planted 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 cit
ron is supposed to be the Hebrew tdpp-
mach. This word is translated in the
English version Of the Old Testament
as "apple." There is legend that the
apple with which the serpent tempted
Eve must have been the orange, which
is attractive, rich in color and fragrant
in smell. The golden apples of the
garden of the Hesperides may have
come Of 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
orange is grown, obtaining its name
from the blood-red color of its pulp,
which is delightfully."- aromatic. If
vote could be taken all the world over
l am sure that the orange by vast
majority would be proclaimed the IA
vorite fruit. The tangerine, or North
African orange, with a rich and lus-
cious pulp and a very fragrant rind, is
very diminutive. but the St. Michael's
orange, very sweet and thin-skinned,
is the smallest, and the Brazil, or
Nayet orange of South America is the
largest of all species of oranges. The
orange finds luxuriant development
in Florida. There are about one hun
dred and seventy thousand trees under
actual cultivation. AS every one knows
there are sweet oranges and bitter
oranges. The bitter orange is grown
in great abundance in Honolulu and in
Seville.
The bitter orange has a distinguish
ing name, which gives point to joke
familiar to players and play-goers.
The story rruls thus: A favorite actor
had offended his audience, and received
hint, next day, that he must apollo
gize on the stage. or run the risk of
having the theater torn to pieces before
his eyes. In due course the doors were
opened, and the house was filled in a
few minutes. The business of the play
brought the peccant actor on the stage,
apparently unconscious that the audi
ence had crow to pick with him.
Proceeding as if nothing out of the
way was impending, he gave no sign of
an intention to apologize, but. though
comic performer, had qualm of
dread in his heart. By way of a gen
tie hint, some ruffian 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 curiously, he ad-
vanced to the foot-lights, where, care.
fully cycling it through his eye glass, he
exclaimed, at last: IAN orange, / do
believer when, looking up in the di-
rection whence it had been hurled, and
bowling with mock politeness to his as
sailant, he added: "But not a civil
orange" The fruit, in fact, was
Secale orange, and the equivoke in
pronunciation was at once SO new
and so true that the audience, forget
ting their anger. greeted the actor with
shout of Bravo, Dobbs!" and called
up the gallery to ask why that chap
who had thrown the orange was not
thrown down the stairs.-Cor. Troy
Times.
Recent statistics show that in 1884
the number of boiler explosions in the