BUD VARIATION IN THE MARSH GRAPEFRUIT. 7 
of the trees in the bearing orchards under observation are of strains 
that are inferior to the Marsh or best strain. 
Among the variable fruits occurring in trees of the Marsh strain 
are those of the Corrugated, Seedy, Bell, and Rough strains, those 
having raised or sunken sections or both, navel fruits, and those 
showing parts typical of two or more of the strains. Fruits of the 
Corrugated strain are usually large, pyriform in shape, with thick, 
deeply creased rinds, and they are generally of inferior flavor and 
have little juice. Fruits of the Seedy strain are frequently very 
similar in appearance and other characteristics to fruits of the Marsh 
strain except that instead of a few or no seeds, they contain from 
25 to 100 seeds each. Fruits of the Bell strain frequently have 
smooth rinds, and those of the Rough strain have the white color 
of the fruits of the Marsh strain. These fruit variations have been 
found to occur in trees of the Marsh strain either as single fruits or as 
limbs bearing several fruits. 
In addition to the fruit variations listed above, absolutely seedless 
fruits and limbs bearing seedless fruits have been found in trees of 
the Marsh strain. In the studies made up to the present time, no 
instances have been found in which all of the fruits on a tree were 
absolutely seedless. 
Fruits setting out of the normal blooming period often have pyri- 
form or irregular shapes, which are undesirable from the market 
standpoint. These fruits usually have very thick rinds, a coarse and 
bitter rag, and lack the distinctive grapefruit flavor of the normal 
fruits borne by the same trees. No logical reason has been presented 
to account for the characteristics of these peculiar so-called "off- 
bloom" fruits. Some trees bear more of them than others under 
apparently similar conditions. 
All of the strains of grapefruit described in this bulletin have been 
found as individual fruit or limb variations in trees of the Marsh 
strain. Fruits of the Marsh and other strains have been found occur-, 
ring as single fruit or limb variations in trees of the Seedy, Alternate- 
Bearing, Bell, and Rough strains. 
Many minor variations in grapefruits have been found in the course 
of these investigations. Their significance is not fully understood as 
yet, and for this reason no discussion of these variations will be 
offered at this time. 
The presence in established orchards of trees of the several strains 
discovered in the performance-record plats shows the importance of 
this work. These various strains of the Marsh grapefruit have orig- 
inated in all probability from bud variations, and there is little doubt 
that the diversity in the trees in existing grapefruit orchards is the 
result of the unintentional propagation of bud variations due to the 
prevailing haphazard methods of gathering bud wood. The com- 
