20 



STATE BOARD OF HORTICULTURE. 



Expansion of Orange Culture. — While oranges had been 

 grown in the most favored sections of Southern California, and 

 to a very small extent in other portions of the State, to River- 

 side is due the great impetus that brought the industry into 

 national prominence. The twenty varieties of oranges that 

 competed against the world at the New Orleans World's Fair, 

 and to which was awarded the gold medal for their superiority, 

 were grown at Riverside, and the fact was heralded the world 

 over. It is also largely to Riverside that the orange industry 

 is indebted for its present importance, from the success attained 

 in the cultivation of the Washington Navel, an orange which 

 achieved widespread fame for itself and the location where it 

 was first successfully grown (Riverside). 



«A. #?^^£. 



A Riverside Wastiington Navel Orange Grove. 



The importation of the Australian ladybird ( Vedalia car- 

 dinalis) gave another impetus to the industry, and the work of 

 this little insect in this State cannot be better illustrated than by 

 the reported shipments of citrus fruits from Los Angeles before 

 and after its introduction. For years Los Angeles was the lead- 

 ing shipper of citrus fruits, but the introduction and spread of 

 the cottony cushion scale {Icerya purchasi) so affected the indus- 

 try that it was on the verge of extinction. In 1890, San Ber- 

 nardino County (now divided from Riverside), into which this 

 scale had not forced its way, shipped 1,705 carloads of oranges, 

 and Los Angeles 781. The Vedalia practically exterminated the 

 cottony cushion scale, and the returns in 1891 were 2,212 car- 

 loads for Los Angeles and 1,708 for San Bernardino, an'increase 



