CITRUS CULTURE IN CALIFORNIA— POLLINATION. 37 



qualities. We see tliat the sweet orange does not represent 

 the complete unit of nature, but consists of a division of 

 qualities, comprised in a large group only- However marked 

 this change, our California seedling still retains the largest 

 group of qualities representing the type of our orchard 

 varieties. 



Tendency of Orange Culture. — -The tendency of orange culture 

 in California is to displace, as far as possible, the type of 

 varieties, as represented by the bitter and sweet orange, and to 

 extend the orchard growths in the direction of the variety that 

 eliminates the seed growth and possesses only a small and 

 sometimes feeble group of inherited qualities. This tendency 

 arises b}' a desire to grow a sweet orange, and to a great extent 

 is a misunderstanding of those qualities which, in combination, 

 make a model fruit. 



Variety Groups. — In the St. Michael we have a group of 

 qualities that intensified the staminal impulse of the sweet 

 orange, as shown in the production of seeds. It retains the 

 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 varietj^, 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 

 tendency 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 diflFerent 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 



