. JL-L t> 



PROMISING NEW FRUITS. 311 



common pint berry boxes packed in crates. With this and other va- 

 rieties he found that the number of seeds per fruit was considerably 

 less when they were grown at a distance from male trees, though the 

 flavor and quality of the fruit appeared to be sHghtly lowered as the 

 number of seeds was reduced. v The specimens illustrated on Plate 

 XXXIII were grown by the late James A. Little at Cartersburg, Ind. 



KING ORANGE. 



(SYNONYM.: King of Siam.) 



[PLATE XXXIV.] 



This most interesting and delicious orange has, from the time of 

 its introduction to this country, been classed with the mandarins and 

 tangerines under Citrus nobilis, but is so distinct in tree, fruit, and 

 time of ripening from the " kid glove " representatives of that species 

 that it appears worthy of recognition as a distinct horticultural 

 group if not as a subspecies. It is apparently the first citrus variety 

 of high quality to reach the United States by direct importation from 

 the early home of the genus in farther India, rather than by slow mi- 

 gration through western Asia and the Mediterranean region of 

 Europe. 



The variety appears to have been introduced through the interest 

 aroused in the mind of Mrs. Dr. S. R. Magee/ of Riverside, Cal., by 

 an account in a magazine of an orange of high quality grown in 

 China. In an effort to secure trees of this she wrote to her personal 

 friend and former fellow-townsman, Hon. John A. Bingham, then 

 United States minister to Tokyo, for assistance. This correspondence 

 resulted in the shipment by Minister Bingham to Doctor Magee of 

 six fruits secured at Saigon, Cochin China, packed in powdered char- 

 coal, which reached him in February, 1880, after having been about 

 two months in transit.^ 



Two of these fruits were decayed when received, but one of the 

 sound ones, which was tested on arrival, was pronounced by those 

 who tasted it superior in texture and flavor to any oranges previously 

 tested by them. It was stated in the reports published at the time 

 that Minister Bingham reported when he sent the fruits that the 

 gardener in the " Imperial Gardens," from which the fruit was 

 taken, stated that it would be almost impossible so to pack the trees 

 that they would stand so long a journey, but that this fruit could be 

 propagated from the seed. Doctor Magee accordingly planted the 

 seeds of these oranges and grew from them by the following autumn 

 30 seedlings a foot high. He had meanwhile renewed the request 



a Statement of Mrs. J. K. Magee, Los Angeles, Cal., April 6, 1908. 



6 Riverside Press and Horticulturist, February 14, 1880, and October 16, 1880. 



