The BERGAMOT ORANGE (abergamia) is noticed in a separate article.
The MANDARIN ORANGE, or CLovis OrtANew (C. 71 ON/i.4), recently introduced from China, has fruit much broader than long, with a thick Had, very loosely C.1ached to the flesh, so that there is often a space between them. The leaves arc smaller than those of any other kind of orange.
Orange leaves are feebly bitter, and contain a fragrant volatile oil, which is obtained by distilling them with water, and is known in the shops as essence de petit grain. Orange flowers when distilled with water, a fragrant volatile oil, called oil of neroli, which is used in making eau de Cologne, and for other purposes of perfumery. The flowers both of the sweet orange and of the bitter orange yield it, but those of the bitter orange are preferred. Dried orange flowers, to be distilled for this oil, are an article of export froth. the s. of Europe. They are packed in barrels, and mixed with salt. The dried flowers have a yellowish color; the fresh flowers are white and very fragrant. The use of them as an ornament in the head-dress of brides is common throughout great part of the world. The small green oranges, from the size of a pea to the size of a cherry, which fall from the trees, both of the sweet orange and the bitter orange, when the crop is too great to be brought to maturity, are carefully gathered and dried, and are the orange berries of the shops. They are used in making curacoa. They also yield a fragrant oil on distillation, the original essence de petit grain; and they are smoothed in a turning lathe, and employed as issue pease; not readily acquiring a fetid ordor, as pease do when employed for this purpose. The'dried and candied rind of the ripe bitter orange, well known as o•ange-peel, is used as a stomachic, and very largely fcr flavoring puddings and articles of confectionery. The rind of the sweet orange is sometimes employed in the same way. but is inferior. A fragrant essential oil is obtained from the rind of the orange by distillation with water, and is sold by perfumers as oil of sweet orange, ()foil of bitter orange, according as it is obtained from the one or the other, although the two kinds of oil are very similar. The rind of the orange is used in the preparation of a fine liquor called orange rosoglio, which is an article of export from some parts of Italy. Besides the use of the sweet orange as a dessert fruit, and as a refrigerant in cases of sickness, its juice is extensively used as a refrigerant beverage, and is particularly valu able in febrile and infbunrnatory complaints.
. Orange trees are often extremely fruitful, so that a tree 20 ft. high, and occupying a space of little more than 12 ft. in diameter, sometimes yields from 3,000 to 4,000 oranges in a year. The orange tree attains an age of at least 100 to 150 years. Young trees are less productive than old ones, and the fruit is also less juicy, has a thicker rind, and more numerous seeds.
The wood of the orange tree is yellowish-white and close-grained. It is used for inlaying and for turnery.
The fruit of the orange tree is of great commercial importance, for not only is it one of the most delicious and wholesome of fruits, but fortunately it is also the most easily kept and carried from place to place No fresh fruit possesses in the same degree as the orange, and its congeners, the lemon, citron, lime, etc., the property of being easily
packed in boxes, when nearly ripe, and being in that state able to stand the close confine ment of a ship's hold during a voyage of two or three weeks. The orange is much culti vated in the Azores, Malta, Sicily, Spain, and Portugal, and it is from these localities that Britain receives its supply. Those from St. Michael's, one of the Azores, and from Malta, are the best varieties in our markets; but the mandarin orange of China and the navel orange of South America are much superior. The latter occasionally reach this country in small quantities from Brazil; they are nearly double the size of the ordinary orange, and have a peculiar navel-like formation on the top of the fruit, which is some what oval in shape. The very small orange, now often seen in our shops, with an extremely aromatic is the Tangerine orange, of which there are two varieties—the greater and lesser. The latter is hardly an inch in diameter, but the flesh is sweet, and the rind deliciously fragrant. The larger variety is about half the size of a common orange, and is the one generally seen.
The bitter orange is called the Seville orange in consequence of large plantations, which the Moors planted round the city of Seville, having for a long time furnishedthe chief part of those used in this country; but it also has several varieties, which are all remarkable for the bitterness of the rind, and the not very pleasant sharpness of the juice. Their chief use is for making the well-known confection called orange marma lade, and for this the true large-fruited variety is the best, but it is now somewhat scarce.
Oranges, when gathered for export, must not be quite ripe; those fully formed, and with the color just turning from green to yellow, are chosen. Each is wrapped in a piece of paper, or in the husk of Indian corn, and they are packed in boxes and half; boxes, chests and half-chests—the former are the Sicilian packages, the latter are St. Michael's, Spanish, and Portuguese. A. box contains about 250, a chest about 1000 oranges; and the price ranges from 15s. to 30s. per box, and from 30s, to 50s. a chest. The crop begins to arrive early in November, and the ships continue to bring them until the spring. The quantity consumed in Great Britain alone is enormous; and since the duty was removed, has reached nearly two millions of bushels annually.
Orange-peel, or the rind of the orange, is used both in medicine and in confectionery —for the former purpese, it is merely cut into long strips, and dried; for the latter, it is carefully separated, either in halves or quarters, from the fruit, and after lying in salt water for a time, is washed in clear water, and then boiled in syrup of sugar, or candied, and is sold extensively as candied peel. The rinds of the citron and lemon are treated in the same manner.