THE NAVEL ORANGE OF BAHIA. 5 
While it can not be positively stated that these trees were of the 
same variety as that subsequently introduced by the United States 
Department of Agriculture, it seems probable that this was the case. 
None of the trees survived long enough to come into fruit, however, 
and no trace of them now exists. 
In a private notebook of Mr. Saunders, now in the possession of his 
daughter, Miss Belle C. Saunders, is to be found the following entry: 
DECEMBER 20, 1898. 
I propose to note from time to time some reminiscences of persons and things. 
Also make mention of such items as I desire to establish as worthy of record in 
my practice, items that have been more or less of value in horticultural and 
kindred pursuits. 
WILLIAM SAUNDERS. 
This note indicates that Mr. Saunders wrote the following unpub- 
lished account (appearing in that notebook) of the successful intro- 
duction of the navel orange some time between December 20, 1898, 
and the date of his death, September 11, 1900: 
Some time in 1869 the then commissioner of agriculture, Horace Capron, 
brought to my office and read to me a letter which he had just received from 
a correspondent at Bahia, Brazil. Among other matters, special mention was 
made of a fine seedless orange of large size and fine flavor. Thinking that it 
might be of value in this country, I noted the address of the writer and sent 
a letter asking to be the recipient of a few plants of this orange. This request 
brought, in course of time, a small box of orange twigs, utterly dry and useless. 
I immediately sent a letter requesting that some one be employed to graft a 
few trees on young stocks and that all expenses would be paid by the depart- 
ment. Ultimately a box arrived containing 12 newly budded trees, and, being 
packed as I had suggested, were found to be in fairly good condition. I believe 
that two of them failed to grow. No expenses were charged, so I presume that 
the correspondent sent them as a gift. All that I ever knew about the donor 
was that she was a lady, and that the correspondence, so far as she was con- 
cerned, was not official. 
I had a supply of young orange stocks on hand, and as fast as I could secure 
buds they were inserted on these stocks. The first two young plants that were 
sent out were sent to a Mrs. Tibbetts, Riverside, Cal. That lady called here 
and was anxious to get some of these plants for her place, and I sent two of them 
by mail. They prospered with her, and when they fruited attention was directed 
to their size and fine appearance, and when ripe their excellence was acknowl- 
edged, and the fruit was called Riverside Navel, thus ignoring the label at- 
tached to the plants, which was Bahia, a very distinctive name, which should 
have been retained. Afterwards other Californians, not wishing Riverside to 
be boomed with the name, changed it to Washington Navel, all of which was 
unealled for, but this department could not alter it, and it was considered best 
to adopt the name and so avoid further confusion. 
We budded many hundred from time to time and sent them to Florida, where 
it has never become very popular, owing to its not bearing plentifully. I have 
seen trees 15 feet in height, fine trees, at Rockledge with not over a couple of 
dozen fruits on them. Why it fruits better in California than it does in 
Florida is not known. In the orange house of the department it has never 
