THE AORICUTURAL NEWS. 



XOTEMBER 22, 1913. 



FRUIT AND FRUIT TREES. 



of the world, though it is obvious that this species must be 

 mucli more promising for use in lireeding hardy citrus hybrids 

 than, for instance, the trifoliate orange. 



THE HYBRIDIZATION OF CITRUS 

 FRUITS IN FLORIDA. 



The successful hybridization work of W. T. Springle 

 is well known to horticulturists. Quite recently the 

 American Breeder's Magnzine (Vol. IV, No. 2) contains 

 a paper by this author on the crossing of different kinds of 

 citrus fruits, mainly with the object of evolving cold-resisting 

 hybrids. Similar work would be of value in the West Indies 

 for the production of citrus crosses possessing good keeping 

 qualities (for transport), and disease-resistant characters. 



The most important achievement in the history of the 

 Florida work was the effort made in 1897 to originate hardy 

 citrus fruit by crossing the common orange with the hardy 

 Chinese Citrus irifoliata. Out of 212 crosses three fruits 

 were secured which yielded thirteen true hybrids When 

 the.se fruited ih^-y turned out to be a new type of citrus fruit 

 and were named the citrange. This fruit varies greatly in 

 size, shape and colour, but has always an abundant acid 

 juice of an aromatic and slightly bitteri.sh taste. Citranges 

 are cold-resisting plants. One kind of citrange contains a peel 

 which does not have the disagreeable odour that is common 

 to the rind nf most. The tree of the citrange itself- — particu 

 larly the rusk kind — is very ornamental, being loaded in 

 Florida with white blooms in spring, and with brilliant red 

 fruitb in autumn. The rusk is the most prolific of all the 

 citranges and the most precocious, frequently bearing the 

 third year after budding. The Willets citrange is interesting, 

 in view of the fact that it exhibits a tendency to freakishness 

 in fhape, becoming sometimes a mass of finger-like segments. 



At the same time that the original citranges were made, 

 another hybrid was produced between the tangerine, orange 

 and grape fruit. The resulting fruit was also of a new type 

 and was named Tangelo. Although subject to great variation, 

 tangelos show little of the grape fruit and almost nothing of 

 the tangerine, but are in effect new types of oranges having 

 a greater variability as to size and colour, and having as 

 a rule more sprightly flavour, in this respect approaching 

 somewhat to the grape fruit. There can l>e no doubt that 

 the hybrids called tangelos constitute an important source 

 of new and improved citrus fruits for commercial culture. 



West Indian readers will be interested to learn that 

 another new type of citrus fruit is the limequat, which 

 Swingle originated in 1909 by crossing the common West 

 Indian lime with the kumquat orange. As the author 

 remarks, there is no need to point out that the lime is, of all 

 the commonly grown citrus plants, the most delicate. In the 

 hybrid limequat this delicacy is found to have disappeared 

 to a considerable extent. I^imequats vary in size from that 

 of a large orange to that of a small lime The skin is thin, 

 and of agreeable aroma and flavour. The degree of acidity 

 varies greatly. 



In conclusion, reference may be made to the impor- 

 tance of a thorough knowledge of the wild relatives of any 

 cultivated group like the citrus family. The full force of tliis 

 statement is appreciated by a consideration of the case of the 

 'desert lime' or 'desert lemon' (At<ilantia glauca [Lindl.] 

 Benth.), vrhich was found growing in the icebound regions 

 of Australia. Here was the hardiest of all the evergreen 

 citrus trees; nevertheles.» until within quite recent years it 

 failed to attract the attention of plant breeders in any part 



A PHILIPPINE BANANA COLLECTION. 



It is interesting to record that the IJureau of Agricul- 

 ture, Manila (see Philippine Reriew, 1913,) has decided 

 to make a collection of the some 276 varieties of bananas 

 and plantains that have from time to time been recorded, 

 with the object of determining which varieties are best suited 

 for home use, which for commercial export, and which for 

 manufactured products — 'figs', 'flour', 'coffee', 'chips', etc.; 

 also with the object of working out the synonomy of the 

 varieties. 



One reason why the work has not been started before 

 by older established departments appears to be the ditfi- 

 culty that was thought to exist in regard to the transportation 

 of planting material. It is now certain, however, that there 

 are at least two possible methods of sending banana roots 

 over practically any distance— for instance, from Porto Rico 

 to the Philippines: the Wardian case method of transportiag 

 small living plants in a ventilated glass covered shipping 

 box, and the dry root method of packing the bulb-like 

 base of the sucker in a ventilated package of mailable size. 



The investigation, contemplated will prove decidedly 

 interesting. In order to know just what sorts should be 

 propagated on a large scale for distribution, it is necessary 

 that comparative tests be made, including as many native 

 and introduced varieties as possible; except by doing this, 

 it is practically impo.ssible without spending a great deal 

 of time and money in travelling, to say definitely just 

 what are the synonyms of any given variety. It is stated 

 that it will never be possible perhaps to collect all the 2-50 

 to 3-50 kinds of bananas in one experimental plantation; but 

 if the planters and horticulturists and botanists of the 

 Tropics will lend their assistance, we shall soon have a col- 

 lection of these fruits as the basis of actual information, 

 which will be a land mark in the history of tropical 

 horticulture. 



It u)ay be interesting in conclusion to refer briefly to 

 the subject of the origin of bananas. The concensus of 

 opinion is strongly in favour of the Indo- Malayan region as 

 the home of at least a large part of the Musas. Tropical 

 Africa contains a great number of wild and semi-cultivated 

 species and varieties besides a considerable number of 

 cultivated sorts, which very evidently have been introduced 

 from the Indo-Malayan regions. Throughout the Malayan 

 Peninsula, Assam, and the back districts of Siam and Indo- 

 China, there are probably a large number of little-known 

 species and varieties of wild and semi cultivated sorts. 

 Some of these were undoubtedly the parents, .so to speak, 

 of the varieties now under cultivation throughout the 

 Tropics. 



Von der Meden it Co., of Mark Lane, London, have 

 placed at the disposal of this Oflice interesting statistics in 

 regard to the shipments of Rritish West Africa and San 

 Thome cacao. The largest supplies of West African cacao 

 arrive between November and February During 1912-13, 

 the largest receipt for a single month from West Africa was 

 9,!s00 tons during December. This is greater by over 1,000 

 tons than the amount .shipped during the same month of 

 the previous year, and very much above amounts received in 

 England during former years. 



