CITRUS CULTURE IN CALIFORNIA — FRUITFULNESS. 43 



elements in the natural soil that it no longer produces profit- 

 able crops, they being small in quantity and inferior in quality. 

 Now, in the case of the Navel tree, you have taken a bud from 

 a precocious variety of tree, and by uniting it with a seedling 

 root have produced the most ravenous feeder of the citrus 

 famil}', and also the most perfect machine for making superb 

 fruit yet known to the business. It is not content with the 

 slow, plodding habit of the seedling tree, but even in its second 

 year begins to dig up the necessary materials for constructing 

 fruit, and it will continue to do so in an increased ratio until 

 about the same length of time occupied in the process of the 

 seedling, when it too will have used up so much of its available 

 material that it can no longer increase its output, the differ- 

 ence, if a.nj, in the time occupied being easily explained by 

 the superior texture and greater amount of nutriment con- 

 tained in the Navel over the seedling fruit." 



The Age of Citrus Trees.* 



Apparent Deterioration in Old Navel Orchards — Due to 

 Improper Management. 



The questions I here present are, then : Is there a lack of 

 vitality in the tree as it grows old ? If there appears to be, 

 what is the cause, and can we remove it ? 



I find that there is a radical difference in the condition of 

 the oldest groves. Some are marvelously beautiful and pro- 

 ductive, and others are light of color and scant of fruit. In 

 some fairly good orchards there are sections in which the trees 

 are unhealthy, and this to an extent to reduce the yield to an 

 unsatisfactory figure. The fact that the good and bad orchards, 

 and the large number which are neither very good nor very 

 bad, are located under practically identical conditions of soil, 

 climate, and irrigation facilities, is proof enough that the cause 

 of unsatisfactory conditions of tree and product is not due to 

 any constitutional weakness of the tree, but to differing 

 methods of treatment. 



♦Extracts from report of E. W. Holmes, of Riverside, who, at the request 

 of the Riverside Horticultural Club, made an investigation regarding the 

 alleged tendency of the Washington Navel orange tree to fall off in product- 

 iveness with the approach of age. In "Press and Horticulturist," January 

 6, 1900. 



