Report of Standing Committee on Citrus Fruits. 
BY L. B. SKINNER. 
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: 
When I was notified of my appoint¬ 
ment as a member of the Committee on 
Citrus fruits, I made up my mind that I 
should surely be there, and even up to to¬ 
day I was of the opinion that I would be 
there, though there has been creeping in¬ 
to my consciousness, the idea that some 
thing was going to happen to prevent my 
getting there after all. 
It is with exceeding great regret that 
I give up the pleasure of meeting the 
fruit growers of the State from whom I 
always learn something of value, and 
with whom I always enjoy the time spent. 
I say time spent, but I ought to rather say, 
time saved. The towering practical, Mr. 
Waite, the golden, Mr. McCarty, with 
his pleasant smile, and hearty ways, the 
faithful, hard working, Mr. Painter, all 
these I shall miss. 
I had intended to make a verbal report, 
as I had been unable to get any replies 
from my fellow committeemen, as to 
what form our report should take. The 
wise men from the East, Phelps, Hart, 
Hubbard, have recforded, in time past, 
about all there is to know of orange cul¬ 
ture and perhaps a little more, and we, 
that are learners, would rather sit still 
and listen that we may learn more, like 
Sampson, or Boardman. Perhaps in the 
past year I have learned some things that 
will be interesting to fruit growers. 
I have extensivel}^ used a power duster, 
and I find that it keeps fruit bright, but 
H—8 
it induces scale, and a good deal of it. 
I find that in a multitude of varieties of 
the orange there is decided trouble. It 
were better that a good many of these va¬ 
rieties had never been born. 
I hear Parson Brown fruit talked up, 
it is a pretty poor fruit to my notion, and 
Marsh Seedless grapefruit, be sure you 
want it before you plant it. There is none 
better than the Duncan Grapefruit, but 
I am afraid that there has been a large 
quantity of buds, not accurate to name, 
of this variety sent out. Not intention¬ 
ally, but by error, and I suppose that tli - 
often happens, in other cases too. It is 
disappointing to plant Tardiffs, and find 
that you are going to reap Sweet Sevilles, 
or Parson Browns, and find you have an 
ordinary seedling. 
The Enterprise seedless orange, some- 
• times called Stark Seedless, is one of the 
best bearers, and of a very good quality, 
of the ordinary oranges, and commercial¬ 
ly, has given me the best of results. 
I have been interested in the compari¬ 
son of the Valencia and the Tardiff or¬ 
anges. I thought for a long time that 
they were one and the same variety, but 
under a different name. I find upon look¬ 
ing them carefully over, that they are 
really distinct. That they are different 
in several ways. The Valencia is of a 
deeper color, less of the lemon in color. 
Then too the inside of the fruit is better 
colored than the Tardiff. On the other 
hand I think that the Tardiff is the better 
