The Washington Navel. 369 
and heavy; skin smooth and of a very fine texture; very juicy; high 
flavored, with melting pulp; is practically seedless, only in exceptional 
cases are seed found; tree is a good and prolific bearer, medium thorny, 
a rapid grower, although it does not attain a very large size; bears when 
very young, commencing to bear as early as one year old from the bud; 
ripens early. This variety was imported from Bahia, Brazil, in 1870, by 
Mr. W. Sanders, of the Department of Agriculture at Washington, and 
in 1874 two trees were received from Washington by Mrs. Tibbetts, of 
Riverside, Cal. Trees were also received about the same time by Alex- 
ander Craw, but the Riverside trees were first in fruit, and the excellence 
of the variety being at once recognized, it was propagated rapidly and 
took the name Riverside Navel from the place where its characteristics 
were first made known. As it came to be grown largely in other dis- 
tricts as well, a broader name, recognizing its receipt from the national 
capital, was adopted, and is likely to stand. 
Cross-section of Improved Navel Orange. 
There is some variation in the Washington Navel, and higher types 
are to be found involving departures in the direction of thinness and 
sillkiness of rind, etc., as well as interior characters. The most promi- 
nent of these is an improved Navel which A. C. Thomson, of Duarte, 
Los Angeles County, claims is a sub-variety, produced by a process of 
propagation, which he does not disclose, but whether the excellency of 
the fruit is to be attributed to his method or to the exceptionally favor- 
able soil and climate of his location, or whether he has merely a natural 
