SEMI-TROPICAL FRUITS 



197 



orange-culture there ; and in 1872 two trees, the buds of which 

 came originally from South America, were planted in River- 

 side, California. These two trees proved, on fruiting, to be a 

 new variety, seedless, and possessing especially fine qualities. 

 The good qualities were quickly recognized, and the fruit, 

 named by the original 

 growers the Washington 

 Navel (Fig. Ill), became 

 the foundation for the 

 industry in California. 



It is especially worthy 

 of note that this fruit, 

 which originated in the 

 tropics, possesses quali- 

 ties when grown in the 

 temperate zone of which 

 it gave no hint in its orig- 

 inal habitat. Not only is 

 the fruit vastly superior 

 in flavor, having a spright- 



i. i . n-iJ FIG. 111. One of the parent Washington Na- 



ImeSSana Zest in marked V el orange trees still growing in Riverside, 



contrast with the sweet 



insipid article of the tropics, but it has keeping qualities 

 also that make it vastly superior for commercial purposes 

 to the orange and lemon of warmer climes. 



288. Frost. The cultivation of citrus fruits in America 

 has been attended by difficulties of many kinds. To begin 

 with, these fruits came originally from the tropics, and trop- 

 ical plants are, of course, extremely sensitive to cold. Trop- 

 ical vegetables, such as the bean and the watermelon, are 

 under successful cultivation, but they grow only during the 

 summer and their sensitiveness to frost in the spring and fall 

 is well known. The citrus tree must be protected during the 

 entire year, for the fruit is still growing in the coldest parts 

 of the winter. California and Florida, the former in 1913 



