BUD VARIATION IN THE VALENCIA ORANGE. 101 



relatively large number of variable fruits recorded on a few of the 

 Productive trees of the Valencia strain, such as those listed in ranks 

 1, 2, 6, 7, 10, etc., are almost entirely composed of those described 

 briefly under the heading "Minor variations of fruits." Occasionally 

 on one of these trees a small branch has been found bearing a few 

 fruits of one of the major strains, but usually the variable fruits 

 found on Productive trees of the Valencia strain are not of a character 

 to lessen the commercial value of the crop. 



The working out of methods of interpreting these individual- 

 tree performance records and of applying the knowledge gained 

 from their study is essential. It is a simple matter to choose be- 

 tween healthy trees of the same age grown under identical cultural 

 conditions when they have such widely different records as those 

 presented for the trees listed in ranks 2 and 88 in Table I. But to 

 make a choice between similarly grown trees with such performance 

 records as those listed in ranks 2 and 3 is quite a different problem. 

 The average annual production of these two trees for the four years 

 was practically identical, 178.2 pounds and 178 pounds, but the 

 actual yields each year varied considerably. The tree listed in rank 

 2 bore a gradually increasing amount of fruit during the 4-year period, 

 while the one recorded in rank 3 bore heavily the first year, produced 

 a lighter crop the next season, and an increasingly heavy one each 

 succeeding year. The large number of variable fruits occurring on 

 the tree in rank 2 is partly explained by the presence in the tree of 

 a limb which produces fruits of the Ribbed strain. Both these trees 

 appear to be of relatively high commercial value as crop producers 

 and as sources of desirable bud wood for use in nursery propagation 

 or for top-working trees of undesirable strains, and before any intel- 

 ligent choice could be made between the two it would be necessary 

 to know their performance records for one or two years more. 



The annual-production records by fruit sizes for these two trees for 

 the year 1912 when compared with the records for the succeeding 

 years show a great variation in the proportion of fruit of the various 

 commercial sizes in the crops of the individual trees. This variation 

 was not due to the quantity of fruit on the individual trees, for it is 

 equally marked on both these trees, although there is a considerable 

 difference in the weight and number of fruit borne by them that season. 

 The general production of oranges of large sizes during some years is 

 well recognized by citrus growers and is thought to be the result of 

 seasonal climatic conditions . An inspection of the annual performance 

 records of the other trees presented herewith lends weight to this 

 theory, for it will be found that, without exception, all the trees 

 produced a relatively small number of small-sized fruit during the 

 season of 1912 in comparison with the season of 1913, irrespective of 

 whether or not the total yield during that season was larger or smaller 



