452 CALIFORNIA FRUITS: HOW TO GROW THEM 



humid air orange for superior sweetness forget that the California 

 orange, as compared, for instance, with the Florida product, has 

 not less sugar but adds to it more acid; being, in fact, not less 

 sweet but more sour. As both sugar and acid are nutritive sub- 

 stances, the superiority of the California fruit from a dietary 

 point of view is clear. Such an orange, enclosed in a thin skin of 

 silky texture and beautiful finish, comes very close to an ideal 

 upon which to found an industry. 



Although California has apparently no need for changes of 

 type in oranges and has worked diligently and long for the 

 attainment of the types which are at present supreme in her 

 industry, there is still opportunity for improvement within the 

 types. Such improvement is probably to be attained not by 

 hybridizing, but by selection. The Washington Navel, like other 

 members of the citrus family, is keenly disposed to variation and 

 some of its variations have been named and propagated as the 

 lists below will show. The pursuit of such and other improve- 

 ments is now being systematically taken up at the Citrus Experi- 

 ment Station at Riverside which is a branch of the University 

 of California Experiment Station at Berkeley. 



Of the few varieties which are now largely grown the follow- 

 ing is the ripening season : 



Navel and Seedlings, November to May; Malta Blood, March 

 to June; Mediterranean Sweets, April to July; St. Michaels, May 

 to July; Valencia Late, June to September. 



Washington Navel (Bahia, Riverside Navel). Fruit large, solid, and heavy; 

 skin smooth and of a very fine texture; very juicy; high flavored, with melt- 

 ing pulp; is practically seedless, only in exceptional cases are seed found; tree 

 is a good and prolific bearer, medium thorny, a rapid grower, although it does 

 not attain a very large size; bears when very young, commencing to bear as 

 early as one year old from the bud; ripens early. This variety was imported 

 from Bahia, Brazil, in 1870, by Mr. W. Sanders, of the Department of Agricul- 

 ture at Washington, and in 1874 two trees were received from Washington 

 by Mrs. Tibbetts, of Riverside, Cal. Trees were also received about the same 

 time by Alexander Craw, but the Riverside trees were first in fruit, and the 

 excellence of the variety being at once recognized, it was propagated rapidly 

 and took the name Riverside Navel from the place where its characteristics 

 were first made known. As it came to be grown largely in other districts as 

 well, a broader name, Washington Navel, recognizing its receipt from the 

 national capital, was adopted. 



There is much tendency to variation in the Washington Navel, and sub- 

 varieties are to be found involving departures in the direction of thinness and 

 silkiness of rind, etc., as well as interior characters. The first to become 

 prominent of these is Thomson's Improved Navel with A. C. Thomson, of 

 Duarte, Los Angeles County, claimed to have produced by a process of prop- 

 agation, but which is believed to be a natural variation. It is a very refined 

 fruit; generally held to be too fine for ordinary handling. 



Two new variations, developed on the propagating grounds of the San 

 Dimas Citrus nurseries of R. M. Teague are as follows : 



Golden Buckeye Navel. Young wood, slender but strong; tree of striking 

 appearance; fruit marked with bands of deeper color, skin very smooth; pulp 

 aromatic with suggestion of pineapple flavor. 



