CITRUS CULTURE IN CALIFORNIA — POLLINATION. 37 



quality of late ripening of the bitter orange, and possesses a 

 citrus quality of great merit associated with a heavy, compact 

 cell growth. 



In the Homosassa (or a variety known as the Homosassa), 

 a Florida variety, we have a staminate group of qualities, 

 giving to the fruit a high color, tending to seedlessness and an 

 early ripening of the fruit. As we should expect from its 

 tendencj' to depart from the development of seed, it is not 

 possessed of the citrus quality of the St. Michael. 



The Tardive, or Hart's Late, is an orange late in ripening, 

 and with a feeble or impotent pollination. It is practically 

 seedless. The rich coloring of the flesh, united with its slow 

 maturity, allows this fruit to be picked in different stages of 

 acidity. When well colored the citrus quality is past. 



The Ruby Blood is an orange with a fluctuating group of 

 qualities. It is deeper flushed than the Maltese Blood, sweet 

 and early. It develops the navel mark like the Washington 

 Navel, and then is of marked sweetness and has a freedom 

 from seeds. 



In the Sweet Seville, an orange unworthy of cultivation in 

 California, we see the curious phenomenon of a division of the 

 impulse of ripening. The cells of the flesh almost exhaust the 

 acidity by its elaboration to sugar, while the cells of the rind 

 are immature and green. When the rind is colored the fruit 

 is insipid and worthless. 



The Washington Navel, the great seedless orange of Cali- 

 fornia, is the popular variety and its plantings exceed any 

 other. Keeping in view the natural law, that a type must 

 possess many qualities to develop and protect a seed germ and 

 bud integrity to perpetuate itself, that these qualities must 

 l)e the result of the staminal impulse imparted by the pollen 

 to the perfected seed, and that a pervading staminal strength 

 must be diffused in the entire tree structure for bud growth 

 and development, we see in this orange from Bahia how far it 

 is possible to change from the purpose of nature. We see a 

 small group of negative qualities wrested from a natural type. 

 The displacement of its parts, culminating in the markings at 

 the apex of the fruit, and from which it has acquired its popular 

 name, is constant. As an inconstant habit it is not uncommon. 

 All the varieties have occasional developments of the navel 

 mark. It is often observed in the common seedling, and is 



