396 ■ THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 



CITRUS OBSERVATIONS IN BRAZIL. 



By A. D. Shamel, 

 Bureau of Plant Industry, United States Department of Agriculture. 



The Washington navel orange is the most important of any of the 

 tropical or subtropical fruits grown in the United States. The parent 

 trees from which the great variety sprung, were sent to Riverside, 

 California, in about 1875 by the United States Department of Agri- 

 culture at Washington, D. C. The Department of Agriculture in 1868 

 learned from a lady correspondent in Brazil of the superior character 

 of the oranges grown at Bahia. Through the American Consul at Bahia, 

 a supply of trees of this variety was sent to Washington, D. C, and from 

 these trees several living buds were secured for budding seedling orange 

 trees grown in a greenhouse specially for this purpose. The resultant 

 trees were distributed in Florida and California by the department. 



Of the California trees two were planted by Mrs. L. C. Tibbets at 

 Riverside. When these trees reached a bearing age, the fruits were 

 found to be seedless, possessed navels, and were of superior quality, 

 attracting the attention generally of fruit growers and nurserymen 

 throughout California. As a result of this interest extensive propaga- 

 tions from the two trees was begun, so that the variety rapidly became 

 widely disseminated. Further tests of the value of the navel orange in 

 California confirmed the judgment of the early experimenters and led 

 to large planting of this variety. 



The two Tibbets parent navel orange trees are still living and produc- 

 ing crops of fruit at Riverside and have been given into the custody of 

 the city for preservation. Here, then, we have a great industry based on 

 a single horticultural variety which has developed within a period of 

 forty years, from known parentage, and which has had an important 

 influence in promoting the marvelous agricultural development of this 

 western commonwealth. 



The facts relative to the introduction of the navel orange from Bahia 

 into the United States are well established. The behavior of the variety 

 under California conditions has become the subject of careful study. 

 It has been established that many variations of type due to bud varia- 

 tions, or more commonly called bud sports, exist in California navel 

 orange orchards. It has been found that these variations are much more 

 common and important than heretofore was thought to be the case. 

 The diverse types originating from bud sports have been found to have 

 a direct bearing on the production and quality of the navel orange crops. 

 In considering the comparative behavior of these types, their origin, 

 perpetuation and significance, it became desirable that all available 

 information of the origin of this navel variety, its condition and charac- 

 teristics in its native home, and all available facts relative to the 

 development of the variety, be brought together for consideration. 



OBJECT OF EXPEDITION TO BRAZIL. 



The object of the agricultural expedition to southern Brazil by the 

 United States Department of Agriculture in 1913 and 1914 was to 

 collect all available information concerning the navel orange, particu- 

 larly at Bahia from which point the parent Washington navel trees 



