Shamel: Washington Navel Orange 



439 



this habit of fruiting was characteristic 

 of certain types of the navel orange, one 

 type having the habit of ripening its 

 fruit in the winter, another type bearing 

 ripe fruits in the summer, while a third 

 type bears ripe fruits throughout the 

 year, similar to the habit of the Eureka 

 variety of lemon in California. 



INTRODUCTION TO UNITED STATES 



The Bahian navel orange was intro- 

 duced into the United States through 

 the efforts of the late William Saunders, 

 Horticulturist and Landscape Gardener 

 for that division of the Patent Office 

 corresponding to the present United 

 States Department of Agriculture. In 

 his reports on this project, he mentions 

 the fact that he learned from a woman 

 correspondent of the existence of a 

 seedless variety of orange at Bahia, 

 about 1868. Through correspondence 

 with the American consul at Bahia, 

 Mr. Saunders secured a shipment of 

 the seedless orange trees, but during the 

 long voyage from Bahia to New York 

 the trees died. Mr. Saunders again 

 wrote the American constd and asked 

 for another shipment of these trees, 

 giving minute directions for the packing 

 of them and their care in transit. 

 Preparatory to the arrival of this 

 second shipment, Mr. Saunders secured 

 some seed from oranges in the Washing- 

 ton market and grew seedlings in the 

 Government greenhouses. When the 

 second shipment of trees arrived, they 

 were in poor condition, but some buds 

 were found to be alive: these were 

 transferred to the seedlings in the green- 

 house and a number of orange trees 

 were successfully grown in this manner. 



A former neighbor of Mr. Saunders 

 in Washington, residing in Riverside, 

 Cal., Mrs. L. C. Tibbetts, learning of 

 the success of this introduction, wrote 

 to Mr. Saunders asking for some of the 

 trees. When the trees were ready for 

 distribution in 1873, two were sent to 

 Mrs. Tibbetts and most of the remainder 

 to Florida, which was thought to possess 

 more nearly ideal conditions for the 

 growth of this variety. The two trees 

 received by Mrs. Tibbetts were planted 

 in her dooryard and were carefully 

 tended by her personally until they 



came into fruiting. When the first 

 fruits ripened on these trees, Mrs. 

 Tibbetts invited her neighbors to assist 

 her in testing them. These neighbors 

 and Mrs. Tibbetts decided that this 

 orange was superior in many respects 

 to any then grown in Southern Cali- 

 fornia and made every preparation 

 to propagate this variety as rapidly 

 as possible. Further experience con- 

 firmed the judgment of these pioneers, 

 and as a result, the navel orange soon 

 achieved a wide reputation on account 

 of its superior quality, seedlessness, 

 and other valuable characteristics. The 

 trees sent to Florida proved to be some- 

 what unsatisfactory, particularly on 

 account of low production in comparison 

 with other varieties then grown there. 

 While a small acreage of navel oranges is 

 cultivated in Florida, this variety has 

 never achieved any great commercial 

 success or importance in that State. 



ORIGIN OF THE NAME 



Mr. Saunders distributed the navel 

 orange trees under the name of the 

 Bahian Navel orange, marking the 

 origin of this variety in Bahia. The 

 first important commercial orchards 

 planted in California were grown near 

 Riverside, and for a time the variety 

 was known locally as the Riverside 

 Navel orange. Later the successful 

 introduction of this variety into other 

 districts in California led to a general 

 discussion of an appropriate name for 

 the variety and at a public meeting 

 called for this purpose, the growers 

 united upon the name of the Washing- 

 ton Navel orange for the variety. This 

 name was adopted in recognition of the 

 fact that the variety was introduced 

 and the first trees in this country were 

 propagated by the Agricultural Depart- 

 ment at Washington, D. C. 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE INDUSTRY 



The general introduction and develop- 

 ment of the navel orange industry in 

 California has occurred within the last 

 forty years. From the two original 

 trees planted by Mrs. Tibbetts in 1873, 

 which are still living and producing 

 fruits at Riverside, the industry has 

 grown in California until at the present 



