NOTES AND COMMENT 



The navel or seedless orange, which is so extensively grown in Cali- 

 fornia, has been in existence little more than a .hundred years, and its 

 cultivation in this country can be traced to several small saplings 

 brought from Brazil only forty-five years ago. A recent study of the 

 fruit made in its native home near Bahia, Brazil, by representatives of 

 the Department of Agriculture, has eliminated much of the mystery 

 that surrounded its introduction into the United States and has added 

 much interesting knowledge in regard to its origin and its present culture. 

 The results of this study have recently been published as Department 

 of Agriculture Bulletin 445. The evidence points to the fact that the 

 variety of navel orange grown in this country first came into existence 

 near Bahia early in the nineteenth century, as a sport from the Selecta 

 orange. The latter variety is still grown extensively in Brazil, and 

 some of the trees show a marked tendency at times to produce fruit 

 with well-developed navels. Almost the entire present planting of 

 navel oranges in California can be traced directly back to two of the 

 trees sent there by Mr. Saunders in 1873, from stock secured by a 

 missionary in Brazil. The navel orange as it occurs near Bahia is 

 large, varying from 3| to 4 inches in diameter, is yellow green in color, 

 and extremely juicy and sweet. The Brazilian fruits have a consider- 

 ably lower percentage of peel than the California fruits and somewhat 

 less fibrous matter or ''rag." The California orange, however, has a 

 much larger percentage of both citric acid and sugar. 



The forested portions of the public domain of New Zealand are 

 administered by the Department of Lands and Survey, with an approxi- 

 mate expenditure of £40,000 per annum and an income which has 

 fluctuated in recent years between £30,000 and £60,000 per annum. 

 No definite forest policies have been formed and there are no trained 

 foresters in the service of the Dominion. At a meeting of the recently 

 formed New Zealand Forestry League an address was made b}^ Mr. 

 D. E. Hutchins, in which the forest conditions were described and a 

 plea was made for the early establishment of a department of forestry 

 under thoroughly scientific management. The substance of this 



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