40 STATE BOARD OF HOKTICULTURE. 



will fruit without pollination, and that fecundation will not 

 increase fruitfulness in either area, but simply cause the devel- 

 opment of the embryo into rudimentary or perfect seeds. 



Professor Webber, in a series of experiments in artificial 

 pollination of the Navel, proved by them that some of the 

 pistils of the Navel could transmit the impulse of the foreign 

 pollen to the ovules of both the Washington and the Parson 

 Navel, and that the embryo developed into full and perfect 

 seeds, carrying a marked individuality, so apparent that from 

 photographs of these seeds their form and appearance indicated 

 the variety of pollen experimented with. 



We can infer from this how few are the qualities and how 

 small the group is that remain of this variety to represent a 

 type. This shows the Navel to be very sensitive to climate 

 and treatment. The climate of Florida destroys its profitable 

 bearing in that State. Its fruitage, as a profitable orange in 

 Arizona, from information received from that Territory, is an 

 experiment which indicated that it will not be profitable to 

 cultivate it there. Its area of fruitage is therefore confined to 

 California, as the only area in the United States where the 

 conditions exist for its development, and in many locations 

 and areas in this State where planted conditions will be found 

 as unsuitable to its best growth. Its fruitfulness and habits 

 are too sensitive to climatic changes and treatment to sustain 

 the universal confidence reposed in it as a variety to plant in 

 all conditions and soils. The orchardist should be enlisted to 

 plant more sexualized varieties to guard his future interests. 



Results of Experiment.-^.— These experiments and observations 

 are valuable, showing — 



(1) That the Washington Navel is without staminal devel- 

 opment of pollen. 



(2) That it fruits without the aid of foreign pollen. 



(3) That pollination would not increase its fruitfulness. 



(4) That the pistillate, or female quality, exists in the 

 capacity to produce seeds, but is modified and fails to impress 

 its growth and transmit to it its own characteristics. 



(5) That the readiness of the pistil to respond to artificial 

 pollination, and its absence from seeds where an abundance of 

 free foreign pollen has been distributed, show a weakness in 

 the pistil to exude the adherent solvents to attach the pollen 



