CHAPTER XXXIII 



THE GRAPE FRUIT OR POMELO IN CALIFORNIA 



This citrus fruit achieved a very sudden interest in California 

 because of the prices commanded by Florida pomeloes about twenty- 

 five years ago. When this supply of Eastern cities was cut off by 

 the serious frost injuries in Florida in 1895 there arose a passion 

 for planting the trees in California, and a considerable acreage was 

 planted, and as the tree is a very rapid grower and precocious in 

 fruit-bearing, large shipments were made in 1898, but the results 

 were not satisfactory, and since that time, although pomeloes some- 

 times sell to good advantage, the demand is on the whole light and 

 irregular. The local consumption of pomeloes in California is in- 

 creasing, but does not warrant much acreage. For these reasons 

 early plantings were largely grafted over to the orange. 



Within the last decade Florida regained her grape-fruit leader- 

 ship and has produced such quantities that recourse to juice-making 

 seems necessary to realize profit on the surplus even though the 

 type of grape fruit produced in Florida gives her the preference 

 in the fresh fruit markets of the country during its season. Cali- 

 fornia has however recently demonstrated a possibility of selling 

 to advantage before and after the Florida season and this has re- 

 awakened local interest in production. The California State Board 

 of Equalization reports 143,423 grape fruit trees in bearing in the 

 spring of 1920 and 149,802 trees below bearing age more than one- 

 fourth of the latter being located in Imperial County, where the fruit 

 matures very early and fruit is sweeter than is commonly found, 

 the bitter less pronounced, the rag tender, and altogether as desir- 

 able to eat without sugar as the average orange. Confidence that 

 such fruit ripening very early may steal a march on the Florida 

 product is the secret of the large planting which has been indicated. 

 On the other hand it has been demonstrated that holding the fruit 

 on the trees in the later citrus districts not only improves its quality 

 but brings it on sale after the Florida crop is disposed of and gives 

 the grower an advantage similar to that realized by growers of the 

 Valencia orange, who get high prices after the Navels are out of 

 the way. 



Justification of the renewed interest in the grape fruit is also 

 found in the fact that fruit of much finer points than the common 

 California product can be had by selection of better varieties which 

 are to be found in California orchards and propagating exclusively 

 such selections. Mr. A. D. Shamel, whose work with the orange 

 has been cited in the preceding chapter, believes that he has found 

 a strain of Marsh's Seedless which is of dependable superiority, 

 and is now being largely propagated. It thus appears that though 

 the grape fruit has been of such little importance that it has been 

 considered almost negligible, it has problems the solution of which 

 may make it great. 



