St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-11-28
DID EVE EAT AN ORANGE?
popular Belief Concerning the For
hidden Fruit of Eden,
Tue Age at Which Orange Trees
Produce Best Results

Please, teacher. what kind of fruit was
II that Eve took when she hadn't ought to
haVe: was the demand of small boy at
North side mission sbhool last SUNDAY.
Inc young woman appealed TO resorted
to that time-hOnOred refuge of Sunday
school teachers. the snub direct. 1T does
not matter in the least what kind it was,
Johnny" she said. severely. land it's your
| turn to recite.'
| AS matter of fact, however, the orange
is generally supposed to have been the fruit
in question. At least tradition to that
effect is current among the peasantry of
nearly all European nations. and in France
one species of the supposed to be forbidden
fruit IS still known as the pomme d. Adam
adams applet.
1t Is certain. at least, that the orange was
first introduced into Europe from Arabia.
having been brought into Spain by the
Arabs and cultivated at Seville toward the
end of the twelfth century. When or by
whom it was introduced INTO the Southern
states is not known, but it has been ascer-
tanned that it was not indigenous to Ameri-
can soil, the first home of the citrus family
having been in India and China. Now.
however. it tiOurishes in Spain, Portugal.
France. Italy, the Azores. South and part
of North America. the East and West In.
dies, Australia and the Cape OF Good Hope
There are about one hundred and sixty
varieties of the citrus. The ordinary class.
iticatiOn gives 80 species to the orange.
both bitter and sweet 46 to the lemon.
to the citrOn, to the lime. 6 to
he shaddock, and to the bergamot.
The whole family possesses in common the
interesting popularity of bearing fruit and
flowers m the Sana branch 'Fbic tit+Ia
fact has been quite an inexhaustible mine
to poets: scarcely one but has made use Of
it as smile. One of UhlandS pretteSt
poems. which has been translated by Thack-
cray, is on this theme. 1t is called The
Chaplet," and SymbOliZes the successive
phases of WOman'S life under the leafing.
budding blOssOming. and fruiting of an
orange wreath:
Yet still the weathered wreath she wore;
She wore it at her dying hour;
When 10! the wondrous hour;
Both leaf and fruit and flower.
The orange is tOlerably hardy and can en-
dure considerable range of temperature,
Even in such an exposed situation as the
Azores where the sea breezes are sometimes
quite violent an orange tree will produce
annually from 1,200 to 1000 oranges. and
one case is on record where q 900 oranges
were gathered in year from a single tree.
The trees occasionally attain an enormous
size and an advanced age: in some instances
the base OF the stem has been seven feet liz
ciTc umference. An orange tree is in full
possession of all its faculties. so to speak,
when 100 years old. Indeed it not only
produces abundantly at that age but its
fruit is better than that of the younger
trees, as the rind is thinner and there are
fewer pips. The oranges and lemons
occasionally met with which surprise
people agreeably by their lack of pipS are
usually the produce Of some veteran tree.
At Versailles there is an orange tree be-
tween four hundred and five hundred years
old. 1t was contemporary with Frances L.
and formed part of the confscated property
of the constable of Bourbon. whence it is
called lie Grand Bourbon" 1t was raised
from five seeds sOwn in 1871 by Lenora of
CASTLE, wife OF Charles ILL.,. king of Ma
varre. Its branches are now supported by
iron rings.
In England oranges are very popular,
and. it Is said. are the neutrality-suspicious.
dulged-in luxury Of the poor. Thousands
of old EngliShwomen make their living by
peddlng oranges, and it IS said that in the
streets of London alone fully. $500 900 a
year is expended on this fruit
In the South of France oranges are much
cultivated for their flowers, which are used
for preparing perfumery materials. About
two million pounds of orange flowers are
annually consumed for that purpose in the
neighbOrhood of Grasse and Nice. the bios
SONS used being those of the bigarrade or
bitter-orange Tree. They yield by dstilla-
ton an oil known as neroly. which is one
of the chief ingredients of eau-de- cologne.
The best edible oranges come from the
Azore islands and from Florida. With
oranges, as with other things and people. it
is case Of "A prophet hath no honor in
his own country" In New Orleans. for
instance, they are seldom touched BIZ people
who can afford to buy any other kind of
fruit, and OIL those rare occasions are eaten
with salt and pepper instead of sugar.