ORANGE 



ORANGE 



1159 



down. Late and early cultivation of an Orange grove 

 is usually discouraged as having a tendency to induce a 

 too luxuriant, sappy growth, which may be injured by 

 subsequent frosts. The cultivation is usually per- 

 formed with light plows or suitable cultivators. 



In three years after a grove is planted the trees 

 should begin to bear, increasing its products every year 



1561. Satsuma Oranee (X K). 



thereafter and becoming exceedingly profitable at 5 to 6 

 years. It has been found best here to head the Orange 

 tree low, and prune it only for shape and comfort. Ex- 

 cessive pruning is never followed. 



When ripe, the Oranges are gathered by hand from 

 ladders, assorted and packed in boxes or barrels and 

 shipped to New Orleans. Before the late excessive 

 cold the crop of the state was estimated at 500,000 

 boxes. It was quite small last year, as the result of this 

 freeze. 



A fertilizer containing 50 pounds nitrogen, 50 pounds 

 potash, anfl 25 pounds phosphoric acid per acre is the 

 one usually recommended in this state. It is usually 

 applied in March or April. The following varieties have 

 been grown in this state, which, for convenience, are 

 here divided into three classes: first, early ripening, 

 second, medium; third, late. 



Of the first class there are numerous Creole strims,— 

 Beach Nos. 1 and 2, Boone Early, Brazil- 

 ian, Centennial, Early Oblong, Foster, 

 Homosassa, Nonpareil, Parson Brown, 

 Peerless, Pride of Malta, and Whitaker, of 

 the sweet varieties ; and the Satsuma ( Fig. 

 1561) and Mandarin, of the dulcis type. In 

 the second class are Acapuico, Baldwin 

 Nos. 1, 2 and 4; Beach No. 3, Bessie, va- 

 rieties of Blood Orange, Circassian, Cun- 

 ningham, Dulcissima, Exquisite, Jaffa, * 

 Joppa, Magnum Bonum, Majorca, Mad- 

 ame's Vinous, varieties of Navel Orange, ^ - -^ 

 Old Vini, St. Blichael, Portugal, Prata, 

 Queen, Ruby, Selecta, Star Calyx, Stark 

 .Seedless, Sweet Seville, Tahiti and Trav- 

 eler, of the sweet Orange, and Tangerine, 

 of the dulcis type. The third class — late 

 maturing varieties — which are unpop- 

 ular here on account of danger of frost 

 during winter, are Acis, Beach Nos. 4 ^ ' 

 and 5, Dorr, DuRoi, Higley Late, Lamb * ,*^ 

 Summer, Long, Maltese Oval, Mediterra- j «„ * ^ 

 nean Sweet, Mott, Pineapple, Rio, Rivers i-x^-"' 

 Late, Simms Summer, Hart Tardif, and 

 White, of the sweet, and King, of the 

 dulcis type. 



The Kumquat is grown both in the round and the ob- 

 long. A dozen or more varieties of the pomelo are also 

 grown, while a few varieties of the sour Orange and shad- 

 dock are occasionally to be found. ^y, q^ Stubbs. 



Oranges in California (Fig. 15()2). — In 1769 the 

 Franciscans moved northward into what is now known 

 as California. In connection with the Missions which 

 they established they planted gardens and orchards, 

 and the first Orange trees planted were from seeds, 

 cuttings, or plants introduced by these worthy and 

 thrifty padres. 



The Missions were scattered over a wide range of 

 country, as far up as Sonoma, some fifty miles north 

 of San Francisco. The planting and care of orchards of 

 both citrous and deciduous fruits was encouraged, but 

 after the secularization of the IMissions, in 1834, interest 

 waned and they were neirlrctrd. so ili;it in 1846 Fremont 

 wrote of them that "littk* n-maitis of the orchards that 

 were kept in high cultivatiuu at the Missions. * * * 

 Fertile valleys are overgrown with wild mustard; vine- 

 yards and olive orchards are decayed and neglected." 



At the Mission San Gabriel, in what is now Los Ange- 

 les county, were the most extensive orchards; and it 

 was 86 years afterwards that the seed of an Acapuico 

 Orange was planted at Sacramento, and four years later 

 transplanted to Bidwell's Bar in Butte county, in the 

 northern part of the state, and more than five hundred 

 miles from the locality selected by the Mission Fathers 

 for their first plantings. 



While the climate of California, from San Diego in the 

 south to Shasta in the north, is more or less suited to 

 the Orange, and there are localities especially well 

 adapted to its culture, there nre some regions in the 

 coast range as well as in tlu' Sirir;i Ncviida iin'iiiitains 

 where the low winter temperaturi' proliihits its growth. 

 The question of soil also enti-rs largely intu this pmli- 

 lem, and considerable special knowledge is required in 

 order to make a judicious selection. 



The southern portion of the state was first selected as 

 most promising, biit since about 1800 every year has 

 shown a vast widening-out and extension of the Orange 

 belt. The business did not assuinr any '-iitninfiTial im- 

 portance till 1880, when, and for some years afterwards, 

 Orange groves were planted with feverish haste, conse- 

 quent upon the enormous prices obtained for the product. 

 As a natural outcome thousands of inferior trees were 

 set out, unsuitable varieties in unsuitable localities, and 

 seedlings which were of little value. The nurserymen 

 could not grow stock fast enough, and the stock was 

 often bought a year in advance. In a few years, however. 



1562 A Cahfornia Orange erove 



Orange culture became better understood, until in 1899 

 the returns made by the county assessors showed an acre- 

 age in Orange trees alone, not including lemons, of 35,000, 

 or 3,500,000 trees, nearly half of which were in bearing. 



