PROMISING NEW FRUITS. 



437 



State from Brazil by the United States Department of Agriculture 

 less than 40 years ago. The shipments of oranges from California 

 for the crop year 1910-11 amounted approximately to 39,500 cars. 

 Of these three-fourths are estimated to have been of the Washington 

 Xavel variety. 



In view of the large production of this variety and the high esteem 

 in which it has been held for 30 years or more, it appears strange 

 that no seedlings of it have yet attained the distinction of commer- 

 cial introduction in our orange districts. This is doubtless in large 

 part due to the rarity of seeds in its fruit when grown under ordinary 

 orchard conditions. In recent years there have appeared in the Cali- 

 fornia orange districts several well-authenticated bud sports or 

 variations, one or two of which have been planted commercially to 

 some extent, the Golden Buckeye being an example. 



Of less certain origin but more important commercially than the 

 above-named variety is the Thomson, which was disseminated by the 

 late A. C. Thomson, of Duarte, Los Angeles County, Cal., about 

 1891. 1 The published accounts of the origin of the variety are 

 conflicting. The first statement 2 was to the effect that it was an 

 improvement on the Washington Xavel accomplished by budding 

 that variety on a St. Michael stock, then budding from this tree on a 

 Mediterranean Sweet stock, thus securing the cumulative effect of 

 the two stocks upon the Washington Xavel. The statement was re- 

 ceived with much incredulity by the horticultural public and three 

 years later the introducer published in the Pacific Rural Press 3 an 

 account in which it was implied that the variety was produced by 

 ;; split-bud " propagation but without details as to what varieties had 

 been used as the parents. At the same time he submitted to the editor 

 specimen buds prepared to illustrate the method which he had 

 described. 



The inadequacy of the evidence submitted and the well-known 

 tendency of the Washington Xavel orange to produce bud sports has 

 resulted in a firm conviction in the minds of many orange growers 

 that the Thomson in fact originated as a bud sport rather than 

 through any special process or expert manipulation of buds. 



The exceptional beauty and attractiveness of the fruit aroused 

 much interest among growers, which was accentuated by the award 

 of a first premium to the variety when it was exhibited at the 

 Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. Considerable plantings 

 of it are now found throughout southern California and some in 

 \ other orange-growing sections. As a dessert fruit it is not equal to 

 the parent variety, lacking in juiciness and sprightliness of flavor. 



1 California Fruit Grower and Fruit Trade Review, vol. 8, No. '14, Apr. 4, 1891, p. 211, 

 and No. 19, May 9, 1891, p. 290. 



2 Azusa Pomotropic. Mar. 19. 1S91. p. 7. 



3 Pacific Rural Press, vol. 47, no. 23, June 9, 1894, p. 433. 



