2 BULLETIN 3 3, PORTO RICO EXPERIMENT STATION 



growing, especially from around the Mediterranean Sea. This 

 would naturally be the case with oranges, and to a lesser extent with 

 shaddocks, grapefruits, lemons, and limes. The shaddock and per- 

 haps the grapefruit also were probably planted as a curiosity only. 

 The shaddock is seldom found growing wild in Porto Rico and the 

 grapefruit only scatteringly in the different districts, the trees grow- 

 ing singly or in small groups. The so-called native grapefruit tree 

 is characterized by tall, upright growth, in which respect it resembles 

 the Triumph variety. Like it also, the native grapefruit tree is im- 

 mune to citrus scab. The fruit is small to medium in size, and of 

 rather insipid but slightly bitter taste." 



The orange is growing wild or semicultivated more extensively in 

 Porto Eico than elsewhere in the West Indies, partly because the 

 tree has been found useful as a coffee shade, and partly because the 

 fruit can be marketed profitably. In the New York market the fruit 

 is known as the " Porto Rican wild orange," which is a misnomer, 

 for it is cultivated as thoroughly as is coffee. The fruit might better 

 be called the Porto Rico mountain orange, It varies in size, shape, 

 and quality, but is generally characterized by thin rind, melting pulp, 

 and extreme juiciness. The fruit varies from light to dark orange 

 in color, and from seedless to very seedy. Especially selected trees 

 which have been used for propagation from time to time have been 

 found to transmit character of the fruit as well as growth habit of 

 the tree. Unfortunately, a very large number of seedling trees were 

 destroyed by the hurricane of 1928. 



COMMERCIAL PLANTINGS 



Local commercial citrus growing dates from about the year 1901. 

 The first trees which were planted in commercial groves were intro- 

 duced from Florida, and simultaneously with that introduction 

 nurseries were started on the island. Rough lemon and sour orange 

 from locally obtained seed were the first stocks to be planted in 

 Porto Rico. Later the cultivated grapefruit was also used for stock, 

 and during the past 15 years seedlings of the so-called native grape- 

 fruit have been used to some extent. The first groves were of oranges 

 and grapefruit, with the former greatly predominating. Perhaps 

 all the varieties of oranges grown in Florida at the time were intro- 

 duced into Porto Rico either in the form of bud wood or budded 

 trees. The buds were not selected as they are nowadays; in fact, 

 they must have been cut frequently from nonbearing trees because 

 many of the trees in Florida had not attained the bearing stage fol- 

 lowing the freeze of 1895. The result of this promiscuous cutting 

 of bud wood became apparent as soon as the trees began to bear. 

 Some varieties were not true to name, and most varieties bore fruit 

 which in both quality and quantity was below expectation. Some 

 of the varieties, moreover, were unlike the same kinds growing in 

 Florida. The pineapple orange, for example, failed to produce its 

 characteristic flavor, and the blood orange showed no color, whereas 

 the navels were coarse and dry as they usually are in Florida. These 

 variations and the slow growth of the orange tree as compared with 

 tnat of the grapefruit tree, together with the then-prevailing low 



