438 YEARBOOK OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Form slightly oblong; size above medium to large; cavity small, 

 furrowed; apex, navel markings either small or quite prominent; 

 surface smooth or slightly undulating; sometimes very shallow, 

 longitudinal furrows; stem slender; color pale orange yellow, red- 

 dening somewhat after picking, but usually not as richly colored as 

 the Washington Navel; oil cells numerous, small, indented or even 

 with surface ; rind relatively smooth, rather closely adherent, usually 

 thin and rather tender ; segments 10 to 12, irregular in size with open 

 center; flesh, rich yellow to deep orange in color, translucent, moder- 

 ately tender; cells small, regular, enveloping tissue thin; juice trans- 

 lucent, not very abundant; seedless; flavor sweet, sprightly, pleasant; 

 quality good, but not equal to the Washington Navel when the latter 

 is well grown. Its shipping season is about the same as that of the 

 Washington Navel, but it reaches full maturity about one month 

 earlier than that variety. The satiny surface and bright color give 

 the variety special popularity for certain trade in the large cities, 

 where appearance rather than quality determines demand and value. 

 The tree characteristics of the Thomson are quite similar to the 

 Washington Navel. It is reported by Shamel * to be quite subject to 

 " sporting," numerous branches on Thomson trees yielding fairly 

 typical Washington Navel fruits. It is reported to succeed w r ell in 

 Arizona and has recently been reported 2 as doing well in Algeria 

 under conditions to which the Washington Navel orange does not 

 appear to be well adapted. 



The specimen illustrated in Plate LVI was grown at Riverside, CaL 



1 Letter from Mr. A. D. Shamel, February, 1912. 



2 Letter from Mr. Walter T. Swingle, December, 1911. 



