ORANGE CULTURE IN CALIFORNIA. 173 



Orange county, were exhibited, yet one sample entered for com- 

 petition was the poorest fruit your committee ever tasted ; and 

 they are convinced that locality has less to do with superiority 

 than variety has, and they would urgje the importance of the 

 more extended culture of known, named and superior kinds. 

 When this shall have been done, Florida fruit will exclude from 

 our markets the Mediterranean and West Indian products, and 

 the excellence of some particular named and recognized variety 

 will cause them to be sought after, as is the case with other 

 fruits. The packing and sending to market of good and bad 

 varieties will injure the reputation of our State as an orange- 

 producing region, and place it upon an equality with the Medi- 

 terranean. Those who possess seedling groves, or those who 

 raise sweet seedlings for sale, may object to this doctrine, but it 

 is supported by the experience of all fruit-producing regions. 

 Excelsior should be the motto of every one engaged in the 

 production of the golden fruit. 



"'It is to be hoped that our nurserymen will secure and culti- 

 vate none but named, recognized and superior varieties, in order 

 that future planters may take advantage of the experience and 

 labors of others. Like the peach and the grape, the orange 

 varies from seed, and in a seedling grove varieties of almost 

 any quality will be found ; hence, the necessity of planting 

 recognized varieties when they are grown for market, as is done 

 with other fruits. C. J. KENWORTH, 



A. I. BIDWELL, 

 G. W. DAVIS, Committee: 



"Mr. George W. Atwood says, in a letter to our fellow-towns- 

 man, Mr. T. C. Severance, and dated June i8th, 1877, at St. 

 Augustine, Florida : 



"'Do not let any man, or number of men in pomological con- 

 vention, induce you to adopt the plan of establishing a seedling 

 orange grove, for if you do, you will awake some of these fine 

 days from a Rip Van Winkle dream and find yourself as far 

 behind the age and times as he is represented to have been. 

 No two seedling orange trees will ever produce fruit exactly 

 alike, and your fruit will become promiscuous and variable in 

 character and quality, while others, having select and uniform 

 9 



