Citrus

“ The so-called grape fruit or pomelo is one of the biggest products of the citrus family and also possesses properties which may be regarded as a cross between the lemon and the orange. It is more acid than the orange and more sweet than the lemon. This fruit is perhaps more highly esteemed than any other citrus variety for direct edible purposes, forming a breakfast dish which is eaten very extensively throughout all parts of the United States by those who are able to afford the luxury, for so it still is by reason of the high price of the product. ”

“ They are generally potted in black mud, low down in the pots, as if mud were a scarce article; they are watered and ventilated by accident rather than by system, and their tenacity of life affords a delightful proof of the accommodating spirit of the citrus tribe, which have this good quality at least, that they love life too well to be easily pushed out of it. We repeat that every seedling citrus will produce fruit some day if you only wait long enough and manage the plants properly. ”

“ Although citrus fruits are subject to many pests, they are for the most part easily kept in check by either spraying or cyaniding, or both, provided that reasonable care is taken, and the pests are destroyed before they have obtained control. Taken as a whole, our citrus fruits are remarkably clean, and compare more than favourably with those grown in the Southern States. ”

“ Any member of the citrus family, whether citron, shaddock, orange, lemon, or lime, may be raised from seeds with the greatest ease, and every seedling plant will become fruitful when of a proper age to produce fruit, provided it has the advantage of proper management. As a matter of course, a large proportion of the pretty little seedlings we meet with in ladies’ plant houses and window gardens are not properly managed, and are not likely to live to a fruit producing age. ”

“ In your opinion, is it possible for one man, of average strength, to take perfect care of a twenty-acre citrus orchard? Are the services of a man who takes the entire responsibility of an orchard (citrus) worth more than those of a common ranch hand? ”

“ But the orange itself, which is so hardy, has an advantage over many other varieties of fruits and can be shipped into any market in the world. For the citrus fruit is not perishable in the same sense that the plums and peaches are and after being removed from the trees may be kept for weeks with advantage without being destroyed by decay or losing its beauty. ”

“ Their specialty is citrus fruits, but their products are not limited to that line. More than a few have tried their little experiment in pioneering, and have returned to their home land more or less disgusted with their experience. ”

“ LIME JUICE. Syn. Lemon Juice. The juice of the fruits of various species of Citrus, principally LIMES, is known in commerce under these names. It is very variable as to quality, which depends upon the method of extraction, the quality of the fruit, and the honesty of the shipper.
We have examined the juice expressed from limes sent from the West Indies, from Jamaica, and from South Africa, with the following results:
The yield from limes is very small, and the freshly expressed juice contains a large amount of pulp. ”

“ At the present time there are hundreds of citrus trees growing practically wild in different parts of the coastal country that are in vigorous health and producing heavy crops of good fruit, even though they are uncultivated, unpruned, unmanured, and have to hold their own against a vigorous growth of native and introduced shrubs, trees, and weeds. ”

“ The orange tree is the hardiest member of the citrus family, and is raised farther north than most fruits that grow in the tropics. There is a variety known as the sour orange, some plants of which have become wild, and are known as bitter-sweets. ”

“ There is one species which is fairly hardy, the Citrus trifoliata, from Japan, [191:2] forming a pretty bush with sweet flowers, and small but useless fruit (seldom, I believe, produced out-of-doors) ; it is often used as a stock on which to graft the better kinds, but perhaps it might be useful for crossing, so as to give its hardiness to a variety with better flower and fruit.
Commercially the Orange holds a high place, more than 20,000 good fruit having been picked from one tree, and England alone importing about 2,000,000 bushels annually. ”

“ Note.—To render this dish more economical, substitute milk for the cream, but add a small pinch of isinglass to make the creams firm.
SEVILLE ORANGE (Citrus vulgaris) .—This variety, called also bitter orange, is of the same species as the sweet orange, and grows in great abundance on the banks of the Guadalquiver, in Andalusia, whence this fruit is chiefly obtained. In that part of Spain there are very extensive orchards of these oranges, which form the chief wealth of the monasteries. The pulp of the bitter orange is not eaten raw. ”

“ Citrus excelsa var. davaoensis.
A thorny, arborescent shrub of straggly habit, with interlocking, drooping branches, and of vigorous growth; young growth green with tinge of purple; leaves 8.5 to 13.5 centimeters long, 3.8 to 5 centimeters wide, ovate to oblong ovate, crenulate to serrulate; base rounded; apex sometimes [27] retuse; petiole 16 to 30 millimeters long, with wings ordinarily narrow, in large leaves sometimes 15 millimeters wide; flowers not seen; fruit 6.4 centimeters long, 8 centimeters in equatorial diameter, weighing 317 grams, oblate ”

“ The fruit of a tree, Citrus medica, indigenous to northern India, but largely cultivated in the countries situated around the Mediterranean and in other countries. It is cultivated both for the pleasant acid juice of the fruit and for their fragrant rinds. Only the latter are of value for our purposes. It occurs in European commerce under the name of Citronat or citron peel. Good commercial citron peel should be29 in quarters and as fresh as possible, which is shown by its softness, the yellow color, and the strong odor. Old peel looks shrunken and brownish and has but little pleasant odor. ”

“ Citrus nobilis Lour. Mandarin.
A small tree 3.6 to 6 meters in height, with a dense head of upright or willowy, drooping branches; bark dark brownish or streaked with gray; branchlets light green or dark in color, small, slender, round or angled, thornless, or provided with small sharp spines; leaves small, lanceolate to oval, slightly crenate; petioles short, wingless, or with very small wings; flowers terminating the branchlets or axillary, sometimes clustered, 18 to 25 millimeters across, sweet scented; calyx small, shallow, cupped, the petals small; petals white, fleshy, recurved ”

“ Citrus (orange, lemon, shaddock) : In all regions of no frost. India. Cultivated in Persia, Syria, southern Europe, northern Africa, Spain, China, Japan, Sicily, Australia, Brazil, West Indies, Florida, southern California, Azores.
Order XV.—Meliaceæ: Trees; thirty-seven genera.
Swietenia (mahogany) : Large tree. Tropical and sub-tropical. West Indies, Bahamas, Central America, southern Florida. Cultivated in southern British India.
Order XVI.—Iliciniæ: Trees and shrubs; three genera.
Ilex (Paraguay tea) : Small tree. Paraguay. In Parana, ten million pounds produced annually. ”

“ Citrus decumana (1 month) . Citrus limonum (5 weeks) . Citrus vulgaris, R. (6-7 weeks) . Coix lachryma (2-7 days) . Commersonia platyphylla. Cordyline sepiaria. Couthovia corynocarpa (a few days) . Cucumis acidus (a few days) . ”

“ The French name, pompelmouse, is from the Dutch pompelmoes. Shaddock was the name of a captain who first introduced the species into the West Indies.887
Citron, Lemon—Citrus medica, Linnæus.
This tree, like the common orange, is glabrous in all its parts. Its fruit, longer than it is wide, is surmounted in most of its varieties by a sort of nipple. The juice is more or less acid. The young shoots and the petals are frequently tinted red. The rind of the fruit is often rough, and very thick in some subvarieties.888
Brandis and Sir Joseph Hooker distinguish four cultivated varieties:—
1. ”

“ The horticulturist reads the peculiarities of the fruit as readily by its color as the phrenologist reads his by his 'bumps.' The red one, he will tell you, is sour, the white one sweet, the pale one flat, and the green one alkaline; that one is a good table apple, this one a superior cider apple; and if you further ask the characteristics of a good cider apple, he will tell you again it is known by its color, not only of the skin, but also of the pulp, and that it can be foretold whether cider will be weak, thin, and colorless, or possess strength, or richness, or color. ”

“ From low, broad spreading trees depended the grape fruit, as large as an infant's head and yellow as gold, while the orange, lime and lemon trees, bearing blossoms, green and ripe fruit all together, met the eye at every turn, and filled the garden with fragrance. ”

“ Every species of vegetable grew here in finest luxuriance. Melons of every variety, pine-apples, sweet potatoes, plantains, and bananas, with their broad and drooping leaves of freshest green and rich purple flower, and ripe yellow fruit. Orange-trees, cocoa-nut trees, limes—the fig, the vine, the citron, the pomegranate, and numerous others, grateful to the weary sight, and bearing precious stores amid their branches, combined to give the appearance of wealth and plenty to this happy valley. ”

“ In the market-place stand the fruitsellers, who sell all kinds of fruit: ripe figs, with their bruised purple flesh, melons, smelling of musk and yellow as topazes, citrons and rose-apples and clusters of white grapes, round red-gold oranges, and oval lemons of green gold. ”

“ Within these natural walls, clustered in the golden profusion of that favored clime, are often seen extensive groves of orange and pine apple, whose perennial verdure is ever relieved and blended with the fragrant blossom—loading the air with its perfume, till the sense almost aches with its sweetness—and the luscious fruit, chasing each other in unfading beauty and inexhaustible fecundity, through an unbroken round of summers, that know neither spring time, nor decay. ”

“ The fruits now thriving are the grape, fig, peach, almond, apple, pear, strawberry, sloe, plum (several varieties) , olive, the common and white mulberry, pine apple, plantain, sugar cane, Cape gooseberry; besides which several ripen, which, in colder countries, never come to perfection: such as lemons, citrons, and oranges. ”

“ But when the fruit is allowed to become ripe, which is not when it first turns red, but when the seeds have become dark brown and the berries assume a mahogany color, then will its true richness and flavor be developed, and the fruit be found to possess that commingling of sweet and sour which is sprightly, refreshing and agreeable. For those whose taste demands a greater degree of sweetness, sugar may be added without destroying the flavor, but they will be few who will require much addition of saccharine beyond that which the perfectly ripened berry yields. ”

“ Fruits have affinities the same as human beings. Witness the excellent agreement of grape fruit and rum. Nothing else, not the finest liqueur, so brings out the flavor. But there are other fruits which, conjoined to the grape [213] fruit, make it more than ever delicious. Strawberries for example. They must be fine and ripe. Wash well, pick, wash again, halve if very large, and mix well in a bowl with grape fruit pulp, freed of skin and seed, and broken to berry size. Add sugar in layers, then pour over a tumbler of rum, let stand six hours on ice, and serve with or without cream. ”

“ THE wind is playing with the long gray beard on the grand old live-oak over our heads; the air, soft and balmy, brings the slightest intimation of perfume from the orange-trees around us; the golden fruit, half hidden in the rich, glossy leaves, and here and there a bud just opening into the delicate blossom, give promise of another harvest before the first is fully gathered. ”

“ The flesh is pure white, juicy, melting, sweet and delicious in flavor, and so aromatic that one berry will perfume a large apartment. The plant is vigorous and hardy, but a shy bearer. Hill culture and clipped runners are essential to fruit, but, for a connoisseur's table, a quart is worth a bushel of some varieties. ”

“ The flowers are large and white, but purplish on the outside of the petals.
It is generally supposed that the citron-tree was first introduced from Assyria and Media into Greece, and thence into the Southern parts of Europe, where it is now cultivated to considerable extent. It is also grown in the islands of the West Indies. The fruit, partaking of the same quality as the lemon, with the exception of being somewhat less acid, is seldom eaten raw; but, preserved in sugar as a sweetmeat, it is much used by confectioners and others. ”

“ The fruit that follows is yellow, being near ripe, and covered with a white freeze, or cotton; thick set on the younger, and growing less as they grow to be thorough ripe, bunched out oftentimes in some places, some being like an apple, and some a pear, of a strong heady scent, and not durable to keep, and is sour, harsh, and of an unpleasant taste to eat fresh; but being scalded, roasted, baked, or preserved, becomes more pleasant. ”

“ The vine, also, was grafted on a cherry and a myrtle-stock, which produced, in the first case, grapes in spring, [1382] in the second, a mixed fruit, between the myrtle-berry and the grape. [1383] When the gardener desired to obtain black citrons, he inserted a citron-graft into an apple-stock, and, if red, into a mulberry-stock.
Citrons were likewise occasionally grafted on the pomegranate-tree. In the present day, the almond, the chestnut, the fig, the orange, and the citron, with many other species of fruit-trees, are no longer thought to require grafting. ”