JAMAICA. 



BULLETIN 



OF THE 



BOTANICAL DEPARTMENT- 



New Series.] JULY, 1896. 



THE REPRODUCTION OF THE ORANGE FROM 



SEED. 



By Herbert J. Webber, Special Agent, United States Department of 

 Agriculture, Subtropical Laboratory, Eustis, Florida. 

 In the issue of the Gardeners 1 Chronicle of April 25, 1896, I notice 

 Mr. C. Wolley Dod suggests that it is generally believed by gardeners 

 that Orange trees raised from the seed of a sweet Orange produce bitter 

 fruit unless grafted on to the sweet Orange tree. As I am somewhat 

 familiar with Orange-growing in Florida, having spent several years 

 here in studying the industry, it may not be out of place for me to give 

 some notes regarding this. 



Sweet Orange (Citrus Aurantium). 



The seed from the fruit of the sweet Orange, I think we may safely 

 conclude, invariably produces sweet Oranges unless they are the results 

 of hybridisation with some other species or variety. The evidence, how- 

 ever, is somewhat conflicting. The experiments of Gallesio, published 

 in 1811, seem to show conclusively that the belief that they produce 

 bitter fruit, which Mr. Dod suggests is quite generally held by gardeners, 

 is erroneous. In his Traite dn Citrus, Gallesio says, I have during a 

 long series of years sown pips of sweet Oranges, taken sometimes from 

 the natural tree, and sometimes from Oranges grafted on bitter Orange 

 trees or Lemon trees. The result has always been trees bearing sweet 

 fruit, and the same has been observed for more than sixty years by all 

 gardeners of Finale. There is no instance of a bitter Orange tree from 

 seed of sweet Oranges, nor of a sweet Orange from the seed of bitter 

 Oranges, . . . In 1709, the Orange trees of Finale, having beea. 

 killed by frost the practice of raising sweet Orange trees from seed was 

 introduced, and every one of these plants produced the sweet-juiced 

 fruit." 



Macfadyen's statement regarding the experience in Jamaica is, how- 

 ever, in opposition to Gallesio. Macfayden says, '"It is a well estab- 

 lished fact, familiar to everyone who has been any length of time in 

 this island, that the seed of the sweet Orange very frequently grows up 

 into a tree bearing the bitter fruit, numerous well-attested instances of 



Vol. III. 

 Part 7. 



