BUD VARIATTON IN" THE MARSH GRAPEFRUIT. 7 



of the trees in the bearing orchards under observation are of strains 

 that are inferior to the Marsh or best strain. 



Among the variable fruits occurring in trees of the Marsh strain 

 are those of the Corrugated, Seedy, Bell, and Rough strains, those 

 having raised or sunken sections or both, navel fruits, and those 

 showing parts typical of two or more of the strains. Fruits of the 

 Corrugated strain are usually large, pyriform in shape, with thick, 

 deeply creased rinds, and they are generally of inferior flavor and 

 have little juice. Fruits of the Seedy strain are frequently very 

 similar in appearance and other characteristics to fruits of the Marsh 

 strain except that instead of a few or no seeds, they contain from 

 25 to 100 seeds each. Fruits of the Bell strain frequently have 

 smooth rinds, and those of the Rough strain have the white color 

 of the fruits of the Marsh strain. These fruit variations have been 

 found to occur in trees of the Marsh strain either as single fruits or as 

 limbs bearing several fruits. 



In addition to the fruit variations hsted above, absolutely seedless 

 fruits and hmbs bearing seedless fruits have been foimd in trees of 

 the Marsh strain. In the studies made up to the present time, no 

 instances have been found in which all of the fiiiits on a tree were 

 absolutely seedless. 



Fruits setting out of the normal blooming period often have pyri- 

 form or irregular shapes, which are undesirable from the market 

 standpoint. These fruits usually have very thick rinds, a coarse and 

 bitter rag, and lack the distinctive grapefruit flavor of the normal 

 fruits borne by the same trees. No logical reason has been presented 

 to account for the characteristics of these pecuhar so-called "off- 

 bloom" fruits. Some trees bear more of them than others under 

 apparently similar conditions. 



All of the strains of grapefruit described in this bulletin have been 

 found as individual fruit or limb variations in trees of the Marsh 

 strain. Fruits of the Marsh and other strains have been found occur- 

 ring as single fruit or hmb variations in trees of the Seedy, Alternate- 

 Bearing, Bell, and Rough strains. 



Many minor variations in grapefruits have been foiuid in the course 

 of these investigations. Their significance is not fully understood as 

 yet, and for this reason no discussion of these variations will be 

 offered at this time. 



The presence in estabhshed orchards of trees of the several strains 

 discovered in the performance-record plats shows the importance of 

 this work. These various strains of the Marsh grapefruit have orig- 

 inated in aU. probabiUty from bud variations, and there is httle doubt 

 that the diversity in the trees in existing grapefruit orchards is the 

 result of the unintentional propagation of bud variations due to the 

 prevailing haphazard methods of gathering bud wood. The com- 



