SPECIES, VARIETIES, ETC. 113 



A large proportion are entirely seedless. 



The flavor is excellent, the grain very fine, and the 

 fruit is almost entirely free from the tough and 

 stringy membranous substances usually found in 

 oranges. 



Its keeping qualities are superior to any variety 

 tested in this country, rendering it a superior market 

 fruit. 



The tree is a rapid grower, symmetrical in shape, 

 and forming invariably a round and beautiful head. 



An entire absence of thorns, avoiding by this pe- 

 culiarity the large percentage of loss usually sustain- 

 ed in the puncturing of the fruit by the thorns or 

 spines found on the common variety of orange trees. 



In concluding this subject of varieties, I would 

 urge upon the orange growers of this State the ad- 

 visability of selecting and cultivating varieties with 

 reference to their time of maturing. The orange 

 naturally has the advantage of most fruits in point 

 of extending the time of ripening. It is a crop 

 that can be harvested as the market demands be- 

 ginning ordinarily with November and ending with 

 March. And this period might be extended so as 

 to embrace a still longer time, by gathering in 

 March and carefully housing, thus preventing de- 

 terioration of fruit by longer hanging on the tree, 

 and giving relief to the latter. 



This course has been advised by one who has 

 studied the methods of handling the orange in 

 European groves. 



