Tomorrow we will be celebrating the 200th birthday of Charles Darwin. Here’s a little foretaste:
Gallesio gives a curious account of the naturalisation of the Orange in Italy. During many centuries the sweet orange was propagated exclusively by grafts, and so often suffered from frosts that it required protection. After the severe frost of 1709, and more especially after that of 1763, so many trees were destroyed that seedlings from the sweet orange were raised, and, to the surprise of the inhabitants, their fruit was found to be sweet. The trees thus raised were larger, more productive, and hardier than the former kinds; and seedlings are now continually raised. Hence Gallesio concludes that much more was effected for the naturalisation of the orange in Italy by the accidental production of new kinds during a period of about sixty years, than had been effected by grafting old varieties during many ages. I may add that Risso describes some Portuguese varieties of the orange as extremely sensitive to cold, and as much tenderer than certain other varieties.
From The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication (1868, p 308)
And in an astonishing display of the power of Google, Serendip, and my dodgy memory, the same Gallesio (seen above) chronicled the Citrangolo di Bizzarria, noted by Luigi almost two weeks ago.