BUBEAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY. 179 



The conditioning erf oranges in Florida, also of one variety of grape- 

 fruit, was begun in a small way last season, but during the winter 

 of 1921-22 w^ork along this line was actively inaugurated in that 

 State, and the process was rapidly adopted by a considerable number 

 of the Florida citrus growers. The Parson Brown orange and the 

 Davis grapefruit Avere the varieties to which the process was prin- 

 cipally applied, although tangerines and Valencia oranges were also 

 treated. In all, about 300 cars of citrus fruit thus treated were 

 shipped from California during the winter of 1921-22. This fruit 

 brought about $1 a box more than fruit from the same groves which 

 was of greenish color. Tangerines which after conditioning were put 

 on the market for the Thanksgiving holiday trade sold as high as 

 $9 a half strap. About 10,000 boxes of Valencia oranges which were 

 conditioned brought from $1 to $2 more per box than the same grade 

 of fruit which was shipped as it came from the trees. About 100 

 t-onditioning rooms have been erected in Florida. This work now 

 seems to be on a sound commercial basis in Florida and in Alabama. 



Citrus improve7nent through bud selection. — Tlie investigational 

 individual tree-performance records with the Washington Navel, 

 Valencia, and Ruby Blood orange varieties, Lisbon, Eureka, and 

 Villafranca lemons. Marsh grapefruit, and Dancy tangerine have 

 been continued during the calendar year 1921. 



Several outstanding and important facts have been brought out 

 clearly during the past year in connection with the investigational 

 citrus progeny performance-record work. Buds taken from the 

 normal branches of the parent tree where that tree has a sporting 

 branch or branches bearing abnorm.al fruits or foliage produce trees 

 which have been found to be extremely variable and undesirable for 

 commercial propagation. In other words, parent trees which have 

 sporting branches as the result of bud variation have been found to 

 be undesirable for propagation, even though the buds for propagation 

 are taken from the normal branches of such trees. Tlie variable 

 branches in the trees indicate inherent instability. On the other 

 hand, buds taken from productive and normal trees bear fruits 

 uniformly good and without marked deviation from the normal type 

 of fruits and foliage. This discovery, confirming similar investiga- 

 tions during previous years, has demonstrated that in the selection 

 of parent trees for propagation it is essential that only those trees 

 which produce uniformly good fruits be used. 



One illustration of the nature of the progeny performance records 

 will suffice. From two especially desirable Lisbon lemon trees 325 

 trees each were propagated in 1912. These two parent trees were 

 the most productive and desirable in a 10-acre Lisbon orchard on the 

 Limoneira Ranch in Ventura County, Calif. The trees were planted 

 in orchard form in 1914. A systematic record of their performance 

 was begim in July, 1917. During the six months following, the aver- 

 age yield was 7 boxes per tree. For the calendar year 1918 the 

 yield for these 650 progeny trees was 2i boxes per tree. There was an 

 annual increase up to and including the crop of 1921, the average for 

 that calendar year being 7f boxes per tree, or more than double that 

 of the ordinary tree of the Lisbon variety when grown under similar 

 cultural conditions where no selection of budwood for propagation 

 is practiced. 



