462 FRUIT CULTURE IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES. 



be all alike, having been propagated and grown in Brazil especially for the Depart- 

 ment and under the direction of the Commissioner of Agriculture. They were named 

 by Mr. Saunders Bahia, in honor of the place from which they came. Two trees prop- 

 agated from these were sent to Mrs. S. C. Tibbetts, of Riverside, Cal., in 1873. When 

 these trees fruited and their superior quality was ascertained they were called by the 

 orange-growers of California the Washington or Riverside Navel, to distinguish, the 

 variety from the Australian Navel, then commonly grown. 



Mr. Van Deman also mentions that this variety of orange, bearing ex- 

 cellent fruit, has been growing for several years in Florida. He has de- 

 voted much study to the origin, manner of introduction etc., of the navel 

 orange, and he states 



that most of the oranges named constitute distinct varieties, although some still hold 

 to the opinion that these differences are in a great measure caused by peculiarities 

 of soil, climate, and treatment. 



He further says : 



After examining specimens of fruit from many places in Florida and California 

 under all of these synonyms and those grown on the original trees hero, and having 

 read what has been published in the papers on the subject, I see no reason for believ- 

 ing that all of the twelve trees imported from Brazil are not all of one variety. 



M. J. Harold, agricultural and horticultural reporter for the " Syd- 

 ney Town and Country Journal," who has had much experience with 

 citrus fruits both in California and Australia, is of opinion that the 

 Australian Navel and the Washington or Eiverside Navel are essen- 

 tially the same. In a recent interview with me he said he had com- 

 pared very carefully the variety grown in each country, and that he 

 was fully satisfied there was no difference between them. In regard to 

 the statements made by certain pomologists that the navel or central 

 depression on the Australian variety was larger and not so round as 

 that on the California orange, he said such statements could only have 

 been made after imperfect observation or from the examination of one 

 or two specimens. 



There is no decided difference in the size or shape of the navel, and the difference, 

 if any, is only what might be expected in oranges of different size even off the same 

 tree. The fruit grows alike in both countries and is apt to split in the same way. 

 When the trees are nine or ten years of age the fruit often grows to about the 

 size of a small marble or hickory-nut and then falls off. 



Mr. Uarrold further said that he would be very glad to knfw that 

 the California nurserymen possess a new variety of Navel or Bahia 

 orange, but his experience and that of his friends, both in Australia and 

 the United States, will not warrant any such conclusion. No harm, 

 however, can result from experimenting in this direction with the 

 Navel orange. 



Mr. J. Beresford Cairnes, vice-president of the Fruit Growers' Union 

 of New South Wales, informs me that he has imported from California 

 a large number of the best varieties of orange trees on account of fruit- 

 growers near Parramatta. The Messrs. Chaffy Brothers have also 

 planted a considerable area with California orange trees at their irriga- 



