ORANGE. Citrus aurantiuna. The orange, originally a native of the warmer portions of Asia, is now generally disseminated and grown in all countries where the winter frosts are not severe enough to kill the trees. In the United States, South Carolina and Georgia, the Gulf States and Southern California comprise the northern limits of cultivation. It is especially cultivated with a view to profit, in Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Syria, Egypt, northern and southern Africa, India, China, Japan, and on many of the islands adja cent to these countries; also in the Azores, the West Indies, Brazil, and the warmest portions of the United State.s. The first distinct notice of the orange on record is that made by Avi cenna, an Arabian physician, who flourished in the tenth century. It is stated by pelesio, a modern Italian author, that the Arabs introduced this fruit into Europe by two route-s—the sweet oranges through Persia to Syria, and thence to the shores of Italy and the south of France, and the bitter ones by Arabia, Egypt, and the north of Africa to Portugal and Spain. It was the opinion of this writer, who described forty of the principal kinds, cultivated in Italy, that they were all derived from the same species—an opinion which appears to be corroborated by the circumstance that the whole citrus family is prone to change, from a difference of soil and climate, as well as from a tendency to sport, when cultivated from seeds, after the manner of most of our orchard fruits. In many parts of the West Indies and South America, for instance, the whole orange tribe is found growing wild, springing up spontaneously from the seeds of the trees originally planted by the Spaniards, vary ing in size and every gradation from the lime to the shaddock. In Florida, it has long been cul tivated. Bartram mentions a famous orange grove in Florida, which was found in 1781, when the surveyor ran the lines near New Smyrna, north for forty miles along a ridge; and further stated that extensive groves were found as far north as latitude 28°. Dr. Baldwin, in 1817, men
tions trees thirty feet high, and says: You may eat oranges from morning till night, at every plan tation along the shores, while the wild trees, bending with their golden fruit over the water, present an enchanting appearance. These were the remains of the trees, or the wildings, from those planted by the early Spanish settlers. The cultivation of the orange is steadily extending in Florida and California. In other Southern States its cultivation is not extending, although there is no doubt that it might he profitably extended along the coast line of southern Texas. In the planting of orange groves,in Florida,water protection is sought to the northwest. If this can not be had, ridges are selected, since these are less liable to spring frosts than lower situa tions. The North is now cheaply and amply supplied with oranges from Florida, and in California the cultivation of this noble fruit is steadily increasing Besides blight, and fungus, there are a number of insects attacking the orange. The blight is often very destructive. There are no certain remedies for this disease. The trees die back somewhat, as is the case with pears. It has been recommended to cut below all diseased parts and re-bud. Drainage and careful cultivation would seem to be the most rational course to pursue. One of the most noxious of the insects attacking the orange is the Orange-tree Mussel Shell Louse, (Aspidiotu Gloverii). The illustrations show the insect in its.
various stages of transformation up to the perfect fly. The natural remedies are, as in the case of the Apple-tree Bark Louse, scraping them off, and at the time in summer when the young are active, washing the branches with strong soap suds.