2 BULLETIN 623, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
carloads annually. From these figures it can be seen that the Wash- 
ington Navel orange crop for the year 1916 was probably between 
21,500 and 22,500 carloads. In northern and central California, 
the Washington Navel variety is shipped largely during the months 
of November, December, and January, while in southern California 
the crop is mostly shipped from January to June, inclusive. Owing 
to large plantings of this variety in northern and central California 
which have not yet come into full bearing, it seems likely that its 
production in the State will be increased in the near future. 
The Washington Navel orange besides contributing such an 
important part to the citrus industry of California is extensively 
cultivated in the region of its nativity, Bahia, Brazil, and is grown 
commercially in Australia, South Africa, Japan, and some other citrus- 
growing regions. This remarkable development has occurred well 
within the past century and most of it during the last 25 years. 
HISTORY OF THE WASHINGTON NAVEL VARIETY. 
The Washington Navel orange (Citrus sinensis (L.) Osbeck) origi- 
nated at Bahia, Brazil, apparently as a bud variation from the Portu- 
guese orange variety, laranja Selecta. This variety, commonly 
called the Selecta orange, probably introduced into Brazil by the 
early Portuguese explorers and settlers, is supposed to have come 
from India. In Brazil the Selecta orange produces fruits bearing 
seeds and is one of the important citrus varieties grown in the vicinity 
of Rio de Janeiro at the present time. ' The occurrence of navel fruit 
variations in many trees in these orchards is corroborative evidence 
of the origin of the navel variety as a bud variation from the laranja 
Selecta. 
As nearly as can be ascertained, the navel orange variation was 
first propagated about 1820 at Bahia 1 by a Portuguese gardener, 
who is said to have been the first person in Brazil to propagate plants 
by budding. The superior value of the seedless navel oranges in 
comparison with the seed-bearing Selecta fruits was soon recognized 
by the Bahians, and at the present time the navel orange has almost 
entirely supplanted the parent variety in the orchards at Bahia. 
In 1914 about a thousand acres of navel-orange trees were being 
cultivated within the municipality of Bahia, 2 while only a few individ- 
ual Selecta trees were to be found in that district. 
In 1868 the late William Saunders, Horticulturist of the United 
States Department of Agriculture, learned through a correspondent 
then in Bahia, Brazil, that the oranges grown there were seedless 
i Interview with Dr. V. A. Argollo Ferrao, agricultural inspector of the Eleventh District, Bahia, Brazil, 
November, 1913. 
2 Estimate of the Brazilian agricultural exploring expedition of the United States Department of Agri- 
culture, 1913-14. 
