FLORIDA .STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
37 
SECOND GENERATION CITRANGES. 
When the citranges (trifoliata by com¬ 
mon orange) were first made it was not 
expected that the first generation hybrids 
grown from seed secured by such cross 
pollination would be of any value, while 
it was confidently expected that the sec¬ 
ond generation hybrids grown from 
seeds of the citranges themselves would 
show occasional combinations of the 
qualities of the two parents which would 
make them valuable. The unexpected is 
said always to happen, however, and it 
certainly did in this case. Many of the 
first generation citranges proved distinct¬ 
ly of value for home use in the Cotton 
States. Some of them were nearly seed¬ 
less so that it was difficult to try the ex¬ 
periment of securing second generation 
seedlings. Others, however, seeded very 
freely and upon growing the seedlings 
they were seen to be monotonously uni¬ 
form, reproducing almost exactly the pa¬ 
rental type. 
Among the 14 or 15 citranges now in 
fruit, 2 have been found that occasionally 
give rise to true second generation hy¬ 
brids, and 2 more the seeds from which 
all give rise to second generation hybrids. 
These citranges, it is true, are not among 
the best varieties, but one of them is of 
fair quality and the other is of large size 
and handsome appearance though of un¬ 
usually bitter flavor. The seedlings of 
these citranges show the most extraordi¬ 
nary diversity, ranging all the way from 
practically pure orange to practically pure 
trifoliata, with every conceivable interme¬ 
diate stage. It is almost impossible to 
find duplicates among the scores of plants 
now under observation. They show much 
the same variation as the Citrangors al¬ 
ready referred to but have vastly wider 
range, the Citrangors having as their two 
extremes the citrange on one side and the 
orange on the other, while the second 
generation, seedlings range from orange 
to trifoliate, a much wider field. Then, 
too, the second generation seedlings are 
secured without any further trouble than 
the mere planting of the citrange seeds; 
all that is necessary is to propagate the 
two varieties of citrange mentioned and 
then plant the seed. In this way a wealth 
of new citrus fruits can be obtained and, 
what is of interest to the Florida citrus 
growers, many of these new fruits ap¬ 
proach the orange very closely in char¬ 
acter of leaf and in growth and will 
doubtless bear fruits distinctly of the or¬ 
ange type although at least some of them 
may be expected to show something of 
the hardiness of the trifoliata in the tree 
and perhaps some of the earliness of this 
parent in the ripening of the fruit. Pho¬ 
tographs are attached showing something 
of the amount of variation seen among 
the seedlings of these two' varieties of cit¬ 
ranges; also photograph showing a few 
older seedlings of the rustic citrange 
planted in the fall of 1908, and giving 
some idea of the appearance of these sec¬ 
ond generation citranges as they get old¬ 
er. 
It should be stated, in this connection, 
that long experience has shown conclu¬ 
sively that much can be judged as to the 
character of the fruit of a citrus plant 
from the appearance of the leaves. Of 
course, the Citrangors and these second 
generation seedlings will be forced into 
fruit as soon as possible, and I hope with¬ 
in a couple of years to give the first actual 
