406 THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 



MARKETING. 



Bahian navels are largely consumed locally. A small proportion of 

 the crop is sold to steamships calling at Bahia, for table use. Some 

 seasons a small amount of fruit is sent to Rio de Janeiro or other nearby 

 markets. In an experimental shipment of carefully handled oranges 

 from Bahia to "Washington, D. C, taking three weeks, we found less 

 than one per cent decay. There is no doubt but that with careful 

 handling and proper conditions during transit, the Bahian navels can 

 be exported to any markets reached bj^ established steamship lines. 



The average price secured by the growers for the navel oranges is 

 two cents each. The average price at which these fruits are sold in the 

 market is three cents apiece. The buyers load the fruits in baskets 

 called cassuas, arranged for attaching to either side of crosstree saddles 

 called cangalhas. The saddles fit the mules or horses and the baskets 

 hang on both sides, thus balancing the load. Each basket holds about 

 one hundred fruits. In other cases we frequently observed men and 

 women carrying baskets of oranges on their heads from the orchards to 

 the markets in the city, in some cases a distance of several miles. The 

 fruits are usually picked in the early morning, and sold during the day. 

 The fruits are sold in the markets, and are peddled about the residential 

 streets by the natives. From early in the morning until late in the 

 evening in Bahia we heard the familiar cry of these men, "Laranja 

 Selecta de Umhigo Mucha Doce," or very sAveet select oranges with 

 navels. 



BUD VARIATIONS. 



Remarkable bud variations were observed in citrus and other plants 

 in Brazil. One orange called Citrus, verticelliata has astonishing varia- 

 tions in leaf structure, forms, habits of growth, fruits and other 

 characters. The tendency for the production of navel fruits was found 

 to be common with all varieties of citrus fruits observed. The so-called 

 Australian navel orange was observed as limb sports in otherwise stand- 

 ard type trees, as individual fruit sports in such trees, and as individual 

 trees in navel orchards. The interesting segregation of different types 

 in sections was frequently found. The character of the navel, the size, 

 shape, and other character of the fruits varied markedly in some cases 

 in the same tree. The origin of the navel variety is an instance of the 

 importance of citrus bud sports in the development of citrus fruits in 

 Brazil. 



SUMMARY. 



All available evidence proves that the navel orange of Bahia origi- 

 nated about 1820 as a bud sport from the selecta variety, and was first 

 propagated by a Portuguese, the first man to use this method of plant 

 propagation in Brazil. 



The Washington navel orange was introduced into the United States 

 by the United States Department of Agriculture in 1870 from Bahia, 

 Brazil. The first trees sent to California by the department were 

 planted on the L. C. Tibbets ranch at Riverside about 1875, and these 

 two trees are still living, the property of the city. 



