38 STATE BOARD OF HORTICULTURE. 



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, and that these qualities must 

 he 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 poj^ular 

 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 

 very common in the Ruby Blood. It has been popularly be- 

 lieved, when seen in other varieties, to be the result of cross- 

 pollination from the Washington or some other variety of 

 Navel. In the light of recent investigations this is deemed 

 impossible. Experiments the coming season will undoubtedly 

 be made to substantiate this view. I am inclined to think that 

 this was among the first changes in the bitter orange, to destroy 

 the staminal supremacy of that fruit. Whenever a fruit car- 

 ries this mark it produces less seed and carries greater relative 

 sweetness to its acidity. The original plants were received 

 at Washington from Bahia, Brazil, and a number sent by 

 the Government to Florida and California for cultivation. 

 The different results of cultivation and environment in the 

 two areas show marked tendencies in tree development and 

 fruitfulness. These questions arise: Were those plants of uni- 

 form excellence? Did the Florida plants possess the same 

 inherited qualities that the California plants possessed? Did 

 the trees received at Riverside each possess equal excellence as 

 a budding stock, and does the tree now in Washington possess 

 the average inherited qualities of those in California and 

 Florida? Satisfactory answers to these questions have an 

 important bearing in solving the cause of the different develop- 

 ments of the variety as grown in the two areas. If there 

 were inherent qualities of variation in the plants distributed 



