292 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



September 17, 1910. 



FRUITS AND FRUIT TREES. 



THE JAFFA ORANGE. 



The Bureau of Plant Industry of the United States 

 Department of Agriculture has recently published 

 Bulletin 180 of its series, which contains an account of 

 recent agricultural and botanical explorations in Pales- 

 tine. Among the information given, there occur parti- 

 culars of the Jaffa orange, and that part of the bulletin 

 which deals with this is reproduced below: — 



All the crops mentioned have been cultivated for cen- 

 turies in the Orient, but oranges were introduced there at 

 a relatively recent date. 



Hasselquist, a pupil of Linnajus, who was the first 

 naturalist to study Palestine, in the middle of the eighteenth 

 century, speaks of the beautiful gardens of figs and pome- 

 granates at Jaffa, but has not a word to say about oranges. 

 This silence is significant. But at the time of Napoleon's 

 Egyptian campaign, at the close of the eighteenth century, 

 the orange was mentioned among the fruit trees. Chateau- 

 briand, who travelled in the beginning of the nineteenth 

 century, also speaks of this fruit. Lamartine, visiting Pales- 

 tine in October 1832, praises the beauty and quality of the 

 Jafifa orange, but speaks of having seen the flowers and the 

 golden fruits at the time of his visit. Now, at this season of 

 the year it was too late for the trees to have been in bloom 

 and not late enough for the fruits to be ripe. This and other 

 errors of observation cause me to doubt the value of the poet's 

 description, from the point of view of the naturalist and 

 agriculturist, although its value as literature is unijuestioned. 

 At any rate, in the .second half of the nineteenth century, 

 the Jaffa orange was known in the markets for its superior 

 quality. It was exported by sailing vessels all along the 

 Syrian and Egyptian coasts. Its thick skin made it a good 

 shipper, and it was carried as far as Con.stantinople, and into 

 Greece. It was not until 187.5, or thereabouts, that it was 

 exported to England, while to-dav Liverpool alone takes about 

 500,000 to 600,000 eases of the 700,000 or 800,000 that 

 are annually exported. 



I have not been able to learn the origin of tliis variety 

 ■which is cultivated only at Jaffa. In form, it is very similar 

 to the Malta orange, and it is possible that it is remotely 

 descended from that variety: but it is not a blood orange, 

 despite its marked affinity to that group. 



The .faffa orange is one of the largest, larger even than 

 the Washington Xavel. Its form is obovate, its .skin very 



thick, and its fruit seedless. The tree is not spiny, and the 

 fruit, therefore, is never scarred. Its .shipping qualities are 

 excellent. It is packed with very little care, as compared 

 with the methods used in California. The cases are thrown 

 violently into the steamers, and they are often carried for 

 three weeks without refrigeration, and subjected to the great- 

 est extremes of tcnfperature;'and j'et the oranges reach the 

 English markets in good condition and command good prices. 

 It is at least a month from the time they are picked until 

 they are purchased by the wholesale dealer, and during all 

 that time they are without cold storage. 



Not only is this orange peculiar to Jaffa, but peculiar 

 methods of cultivation and peculiar stocks are there in use. 

 The Schamouti, as the Jaffa orange is called, is generally 

 grafted on a sjiccial sweet lime, which I have not found either 

 in Africa (Algeria and Tunis) or in the I'nited States. It is 

 sometimes, though more rarely, grafted on the bitter orange 

 {Citrus Aurantium). This is not so well liked, because it 

 reciuires more irrigation, and is later in fruiting. 



I must add that the Jafl'a oranges which I saw in Tunis 

 and Algeria, and ttiose grown in America and illustrated in 

 American publications, have very little resemblance to the 

 real Jaffa orange. They are represented as having seeds, 

 while the true .Jaffa orange is seedless. 



Saida, the ancient Sidon, is another centre of orange 

 production. Many different stocks are used, and several 

 varieties of oranges are known. Two of these are blood 

 oranges, one called 'Damaoui' (blood) and the other 'Hutmali' 

 (meaning 'ringed', because it has a ring around the base). 

 These two varieties are very popular. The 'Beledi' (seedling) 

 is also grown. This commonly yields 3,000 fruits to the tree, 

 and sometimes as many as .5,000. 



Fruit Exportation from Natal. — In connexion 



with the articles on the export of fruit from Natal that 

 appeared in Nos. 213 and 214 of the current volume of the 

 Agricultural News, it may be noted that the A'atal Ar/ri- 

 cultural Journal for July 1910 states that the hope of 

 building up a large exjiort of Natal mandarins gives no 

 promise of speedy realization, and that it is doubtful if the 

 trade in the fruit will ever attain large jiroporfions. This is 

 mainly because it reaches the London market at a time when 

 other fruits are jilentiful, so that the prices obtained for it are 

 often unremunerative. 



