of Sorrento consists in the culture of the orange;
and the dark groves, covered with their globes of shining yellow fruit,
"like golden lamps in a green light," to quote Andrew Marvell's charming
conceit, constitute the chief feature of its environs. Even the
coat-of-arms of the medieval city, showing a golden crown encircled by a
wreath of the dark glossy leaves, attests the antiquity of this industry
here. The cultivation of the orange in Southern Italy is by no means an
easy pursuit, though under favourable conditions it may prove a very
lucrative one, even in a spot so subject to sudden changes of temperature
as Sorrento in winter time, when a continuance of severe weather, like
that experienced around Naples in the opening months of the year 1905,
means total destruction of the fruit crop and temporary ruin to the
owners.

The fruit of commerce is propagated by means of grafting the sweet variety
on to the stock of the bitter orange--said on doubtful authority to be
indigenous to this district--which is fairly hardy and can be grown in the
open as far north as Tuscany, so that every _aranciaria_ ought to possess
a nursery of flourishing young sweet-orange shoots, ready in case of
necessity. For eight long years the grafted tree remains as a rule
profitless, but having survived and thriven so long, it then becomes a
valuable asset to its proprietor for an indefinite period;--as a proof of
the longevity of the orange under normal conditions we may cite the famous
tree in a Roman convent garden, which on good authority is stated to have
been planted by St Dominic nearly six hundred years ago. As to the amount
of fruit yielded, the growers of Sorrento commonly aver that one good
year, one bad year and one mediocre year constitute the general cycle in
the prospects of orange farming. Two crops are gathered annually, the
principle one in December and the other at Eastertide, the fruit produced
by the later and smaller crop being far finer in size and flavour than
those of the Christmas harvest. Mandarin oranges are gathered on both
occasions, but the large luscious loose-skinned fruit of March and
April--_Portogalli_ as they are commonly termed--are far superior to the
small hard specimens that appear in December, and seem to consist of
little else than rind, scent and seeds. The oranges begin to form in
spring time, almost before the petals have fallen, when the peasants
anxiously draw their conclusions as to the expecte