8 IMPROVEMENT OF CITEUS FRUITS THROUGH BUD SELECTION. 



The Washington Navel orange performance- record plats are located 

 on the Eureka ranch of about 175 acres belonging to the National 

 Oranffe Co. The ranch lies on an elevated mesa surrounded on the 

 north, east, and south sides by the Box Spring Mountains, and sloping 

 gently westward to the Santa Ana River, The elevation is such that 

 cold weather has never injured either the trees or the fruit, and a deep 

 arroA^o running between the ranch and the mountains and on the west 

 side perfectly isolates and protects the groves. The ranch itself is 

 divided liy an arroyo running approximately north and south, so that 

 it reall}^ consists of east and west sections, or groves, of about the 

 same area. The two sections are planted to the same stock of Wash- 

 ington Navel trees, now 12 years old and in perfect health and bearing 

 condition. 



After careful consideration it was decided to locate two performance- 

 record plats, one in each section, of 50 trees each, in order to secure 

 duplicate data and more fully check the results of the investigations. 

 Both plats were chosen to eliminate all possible factors other than 

 heredity. They are located about in the center of each grove, and 

 where the conditions of soil, planting, culture, lay of the land, and 

 health of the trees are as uniform and comparable as it is possible to 

 find in this region. The land was not cultivated before planting the 

 grov c and, since planting, all parts of the grove have been treated the 

 same in ever}' respect. The grove has produced, since coming into 

 bearing, regular crops of fruit the high qualit}^ of Avhich has made a 

 national reputation, and not a single diseased or unhealthy tree has 

 been found in the grove. The trees are free from insect pests and 

 fungous diseases. 



The soil is a granite loam of an unknown depth, tj^pical of the soil 

 producing the finest navel oranges. In the performance-record plats 

 the trees are all in a normal, healthy condition and are set at regular 

 distances, and in no case are there any vacant spaces, roadways, 

 replants, or other factors to interfere with their similarity. The 

 record plats are treated exactly like the rest of the grove, the only 

 difference in any respect being that the fruit is picked under the 

 immediate supervision of the writer instead of by the regular picking 

 gang. 



The plats consist of five rows of trees side by side 10 trees long, 

 making a total of 50 trees for each plat. Particular care was taken 

 to secure in each plat an average lot of trees representing the average 

 of each grove. No dwarfed or markedly inferior trees or any trees 

 producing abnormal fruit were included. 



SELECTION OF INDIVIDUAL TREES. 



In addition to the performance-record plats on the Eureka ranch, 

 21 individual trees, representing different types of the Washington 



[Cir. 77] 



