PACn-lC TRKK AND VINE 



History of tKe Naval Orange 



Although known in this country for 

 the brief spuce of thirty-two years or 

 so, no variety of orange cultivated at 

 the present time has been the cause of 

 so much controversy as the Hahia. 

 Washington Navel or Riversiiie Navel. 

 The variety is still cultivated in Hahia. 

 where it is regarded as sui)erior to 

 other varieties cultivated in tlie pro- 

 vince. 



It is generally stated that the Hahi.a 

 orange originated in Brazil, and while 

 this is doubtless true, there is a re- 

 mote possibility that the seed at least 

 was introduced into the new world by 

 the Spaniards. 



Whether this surmise is true or not. 

 it is certain that navel oranges were 

 known many years ago. Regarding the 

 first mention of the navel orange in 

 citrus literature, B. M. Lelong in his 

 work, "Culture of the Citrus in Cali- 



rind investing it, but more frequently 

 naked, so far at least as the pulp (of 

 the larger part) is concerned: this 

 (second fruit) is composed of an inner 

 medulla of about four spikes; the 

 young brood, as it were, of fruits half 

 seen pushing out through the gaming 

 umbilicus which is sometimes more and 

 sometime less closely compressed." 

 This is a navel orange both by descrip- 

 tion and illustration. 



There is such a striking resemblance 

 between the Illustration given by Fer- 

 rari and that reproduced by Mr. Lelong 

 from Johnson's work that the writer is 

 compelled to believe that Johnson cop- 

 ied his illustration directly from Fer- 

 rari's Ilesperides. 



Many writers since the days of Fer- 

 rari have referred to the navel orange, 

 notably among whom may be mention- 

 ed Volcamer, who in his Herperiduni 



wide planting of land that formerly 

 niised a crop of grain, into oranges. 



It is a signiflcanl fact that most of 

 the land is in small holdings — five and 

 ten acre tracts — which points In a few 

 years to a distribution of returns to in- 

 dividual owners living either on the 

 land or in town. Hence an increased 

 pojmlation and growing popular wealth. 



ANTS SPREAD PEARL BLIGHT. 



The statement is made in American 

 (jardening, referring to pearl blight. 

 th.it the blighted twigs exude a milk- 

 white li(|uid: that this fluid the bees 

 are likely to get and spread to the 

 (lowers of healthy twigs which they 

 may visit. The bees would have no oc- 

 casion for sucking up the virus, and 

 there is no use in laying the blame on 

 them, where common ants (very nu- 

 merous in California, where the blight 

 is the worst) crawl all through It and 

 thence all over the trees. While the 

 bees may spread the vii'us from a dis- 



take: youk picn. 



fornia. 1902, pages 52 to 53, makes the 

 following remarks: "The first illustra- 

 tion of the Navel orange appears in a 

 volume, 'Table xvi. — Historiae Natu- 

 ralis de Arboribus et Fructibus. Libri 

 Decern. Johannis Johnstoni. Me- 

 dicinae Doctoris. Francofurti, ojm.. 

 MDCLXI., ('The Natural History of 

 Trees and Fruits. Ten Books. By John 

 Johnson. Doctor of Medicine. Frank- 

 fort on Main, 1662'), referred to as 

 Aurantium foetiferum Al- 

 though no description of the navel or- 

 ange appears in the text this is the 

 earliest reference known." 



In 1646 Baptiste Ferrari, a monk of 

 the Society of Jesus. published at 

 Rome his famous work, "Hesperides 

 sive de Malorum aureorum cultura et 

 usu. l^ibri Quatuor." On page 403 he 

 describes and on page 405 illustrates 

 a variety of orange "Aurantium foe- 

 mima sive foetiferum." Of it Ferrari 

 says: "This Aurantium imitates to 

 some extent the fertility of the tree 

 which bears it in that it struggles, 

 thougli unseccessfully, to produce fi-uit 

 upon itself. . . . on the end of the 

 fruit is another, sometimes with .a thin 



Norimljergeiisiuni. 1713, referred to two 

 varieties of navel oranges, "Aranzo de 

 fior doppio," and "Aranzo di (lore Scor- 

 za doppio," which he described on 

 pages 201-202 and illustrated on pages 

 202b and 202c. 



A closer study of citrus literature 

 may bring to light still earlier refer- 

 ences to this interesting fruit. Should 

 any one happen to find references ante- 

 dating those mentioned In this article 

 the writer would be glad to learn of 

 them. H. HAROLD HFME. 



Florida Agricultural Kxperinient Sta- 

 tion. Lake City, Fla. 



ORANGE ACREAGE. 



Tlie season's planting of citrus trees 

 in the immediate vicinity of Porter- 

 ville promises to reach quite a figure, 

 says the Porterville Enterprise. The 

 new acreage is centered in two favored 

 spots — Sunnyside in the Zante district, 

 and Rosedale in the Piano country. 



An ample supply of water lias been 

 developed in the last two years, and its 

 Iiroper distribution h.-is resulted In this 



cased to a healthy blossom. It Is ex- 

 tremely Improbable that they should 

 seek out the poisonous sap from a dis- 

 eased twig. 



While I was in California looking 

 througli those great pear orchards, so 

 fearfully blighted, I saw ants in great 

 numbers crawling over the diseased 

 and healthy twigs, and some of the 

 twigs were covered with that deadly 

 milky fluid. I blleve the time will come 

 when it will be proven that the bees 

 are not the chief means of spreading 

 the blight: that those ever-present ants 

 that are continually crawling over the 

 trees from top to bottom will be de- 

 clared to be the real culprits. — Glean- 

 ings in Bee Culture. 



CLARENCE H. KENT 



(Successor to Kent & Cottle) 



FUNERAL DIRECTOR 



Kmb.\lmisg .\ Speci.\i,tv 



LADY EMB.tLMER 



174 S. Scond St. San Jose, Cal. 



Telephone Main 200 



