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416 FRUITS 1ST THEIR SEASOK.
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Transcript
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Summer's Light Fruits Have Long Since Fl...
t substance , sometimes so broad as to inake it look like a second leaf growing below the principal one itsupports . The yellow clots
upon the foliage indicate the vesicles of essential oil , and if these are bruised by rubbing a leaf between the fingers , the odor becomes
much more apparent . The blossom , which is white , or sometimes * pink ., or violet tinged , appears in clusters , and is composed of from
three to five petals encircling from twenty to sixty yellow stamens , ( two or three times as many as are found in the . citron or lemon )
grouped together in such a manner as to make the flower a _Linnsean , pol ' yadelphia polyandria . Every part of the surface of the
orangetree , except just these stamens , is covered with vesicles containing an essential oil , and it is a singular circumstance , that no sooner do .
these manifest the least disposition ' to transform themselves into petals , so as to form double blossomsthan vesicles of oil begin
immediately to develop on their surface , also . The central ovary is divided into from five to fifteen parts , each containing from six to
twenty ovules , but , fortunately for orange-eaters , at the utmost not more than three or four in each division-perfect into , pips' and some
varieties both of sweet and bitter oranges are entirely , seedless . The _jDerfect fruit is a large berrywith a leathery rind enclosing a
, pulp consisting of a number of vesicles containing a fluid which owes its flavor to a combination of the malic acid of the supple with
the citric acid of the lemon , and the divisions of the ovary are . still apparent in the form of the thin membrane dividing the " quarters "
of the fruit . The tough and oil-impregnated skin in which it is enveloped fits it to endure uninjured both extremes . . . of .
temperature ; and the aroma of the rind and acidity . of the pulp combining * to protect it from insect depredationsit may _therefore
be procured fresh in every region of the world to , which means of ¦ transport are availablesinceif . plucked before it is fully ripeit will
, , , keep good for a considerable time , being indeed a treasure ready packed for travelling by Nature herself . The gathering of both
does oranges not and continu lemons e beyond for the the Eng end lish m of arket December begins in while October the , fruit and %
, would not be perfectly -ripe until the following , spring * . Another advantage gained from this premature harvesting * , is that the trees
from -which the fruit is gathered green bear plentifully every year , while it is found , that where the fruit is suffered to ripen they afford
abundant -crops only on alternate years . The productiveness of the common orange is enormousDr . Lindley informing us that a single
, tree at St . Michael ' s has been known to produce twenty thousand 'oranges fit for packing , ' exclusive of the damaged fruit and the
waste , which may be calculated at one-third more . In hot countries the essential juice of the ripe orange is re-absorbed by the tree
during its blossoming , after which period the fruit becomes sweeter and more succulent than before . A justly celebrated physiologist
traces this fact to a general tendency of plants to establish a sort of
equilibrium of their fluids .
416 Fruits 1st Their Seasok.
416 FRUITS 1 ST THEIR _SEASOK .
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Feb. 1, 1861, page 416, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01021861/page/56/
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