17 



the growth and so prevent loss from high winds. Whether the trees 

 are grafted or budded they should with careful handling be bearing a 

 crop in the third or fourth year after the operation has been completed. 



Varieties. 



At the Government station at Warmbaths there are some ninety- 

 six varieties of citrus fruits of one kind and another under test. These 

 consist of a collection of many, if not most, of the kinds recognized as 

 standard varieties. In addition there are others originated on the 

 station as a result of hybridization. 



Out of all these kinds there are but a very few which appeal to 

 the present-day planter of a commercial orange grove. 



Fig. 9. — Three-year-old Budded Navel Tree. 



Placed in order of favouritism, the list would read something like 

 this : (1) Washington Navel, (2) Valencia Late, (3) Jaffa, (4) Du Roi, 

 (5) St. Michael, (6) Blood Orange, (7) Mediterranean Sweet, (8) Seed- 

 lings. 



No allusion need be made to the other varieties, excepting to say 

 that many of them have some distinctive quality which has led to their 

 propagation, but which has not so impressed itself upon public favour 

 as to render them a commercial success. Of the eight kinds 

 enumerated above it may be said that the first two named stand pre- 

 eminently as the favourites for planting now, and possibly 85 per cent, 

 of the orange trees set out in South Africa within the past five years 

 belong to these two kinds. The Washinginn Navel is, and rightly so, 

 the most popular orange in the world. Its history is so well known 



