Citrus Fruits 
33 
none which were old enough to have formed heads of hardened growth. At several places in Louisiana, 
from 50 to 60 miles north of New Orleans, in the latitude of Tnomasville and Brunswick, Georgia, there 
are trees of the Satsuma and other varieties on trifoliata (uninjured this spring) which have been in bearing 
some years. E. L. St. Ceran, of New Orleans, the owner of one of these groves, in a letter received 
0 n June 21, 1894, says : “ The Satsuma and other Mandarins worked on trifoliata stand the cold much better 
here (one degree north of the orange belt) than when budded on either the sweet or sour orange stock. The 
Satsuma on this stock, four years planted, bore as many as fifty oranges to the tree. Plaquemines parish, 
on the lower coast, is the true orange belt; ten, twelve or more parishes are adapted to orange culture, 
but the venture is by no means a safe one, owing to the liability of the trees (on ordinary orange stocks) 
to be entirely cut down by untimely freezes. The deciduous nature of the trifoliata, its almost complete 
cessation of sap flow in winter and early spring, makes it a most invaluable stock on which to work the 
orange, especially in the northern tier of counties in Florida and the parishes to the north of Plaque¬ 
mines, in Louisiana.” 
Ripens the Fruit Early. Experience thus far seems to indicate that the habit of this stock to harden up 
early in season hastens ripening, an important item in localities where early frosts are apt to injure the fruit. 
Makes Good-Sized Trees. The fact that this stock has been considerably used for the propagation of 
small Orange trees for house culture, and for grounds at the North, where the trees must be removed indoors 
in winter, for which it is especially well adapted, has led to the impression that varieties worked upon it were 
necessarily very much dwarfed. But the orange on trifoliata is by no means such a diminutive dwarf as 
many suppose. The orange upon trifoliata stock makes a smaller tree than upon orange stock ; the sweet 
orange grows smaller upon sour than upon sweet stock ; there is a dwarfing effect in both cases, but in open- 
ground culture neither makes very small trees. Referring to the famous “Dugat” tree of Beeville, Texas, an 
orange tree of some unidentified Japanese variety on trifoliata stock, planted in 1885 or 1886, G. Onder- 
donk says (May 25, 1894): “It is a compact grower, spreading from the ground, and is now 8 or 9 feet high.” 
He adds : “It will not be many years until anybody in southern Texas can give information both as to the 
orange on trifoliata and the trifoliata itself, so many are being planted.” On May 30, 1894, J- L. Nor- 
mand, of Marksville, Louisiana (60 miles north of New Orleans), says : “I have several varieties of Japanese 
Oranges worked on trifoliata five years ago; some of them are 8 feet high.” W. S. Reddick, of Lousiana, says: 
“I have had a number of varieties of orange on trifoliata for about* nine years; the largest of them have a 
height and spread of about 12 feet. I do not consider the trifoliata a dwarf ; it is more properly a semi-dwarf.” 
A. H. Crane, of Nashua, Florida, reports the Tangerine on trifoliata 12 feet high. Professors Swingle 
and Webber, of the Sub-Tropical Laboratory, of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, Eustis, Florida, report 
a number of Navel trees at that place on trifoliata stock, which they estimate to be 15 feet high, and the 
remarkable fact about them is that “they bear well, much better than on the orange.” Professor Webber 
says: “ These Navels on trifoliata are about seven years old. They are rather smaller than trees of the 
same age on other stocks, I should judge, though I was not able to notice that this was very marked. The 
most noticeable feature is that all of them were bearing very heavily” (the Navel is a shy bearer on ordinary 
stocks), “ and Mr. Saunders, the owner, says, they have borne heavy crops for several years.” 
Low, Spreading Tops. When we consider that trees on this stock usually branch at the ground, and 
the measurements do not include several feet of stem, they indicate a head of good size, and it appears that 
the orange and other citrus grow as large as is desirable upon the trifoliata. This moderate size and spread¬ 
ing habit is really a decided advantage. As Dr. Devron says : “This is not an objection but a quality ; more 
trees can be planted in the same space, the fruit more easily gathered, while the trees can be better managed 
and will be less exposed to damage from wind and storm.” 
Mandarin Oranges. 
Oranges of the Mandarin type (Citrus aia*antium nobilis) are so distinct in fruit and tree from the 
ordinary sweet orange, with which they are often classed, that we have placed them undej- a separate head. 
The fruit of all the varieties is characterized by flattened shape, loosely adhering rind and easily separated 
segments ; fruit and foliage highly and peculiarly aromatic. The trees are somewhat smaller than other 
oranges, and of unique habit. They are often, and not inappropriately, called Japanese Oranges by propa¬ 
gators; they are the favorite Oranges in Japan, which has given us some of our best varieties. 
THE SATSUMA. 
This variety was brought to Florida from Japan some years ago by Gen. Van Valkenburg, a former 
resident of that country. In Japan it is called Oonshiu, and it has been designated by some subsequent 
importers as “ Kii Seedless. ” When first introduced, at the suggestion of Mrs. Van Valkenburg, it was 
called Satsuma, after one of the chief cities of the island kingdom ; it is now generally known in market and 
pomology by this name. 
Ripens Early. The Satsuma ripens early; we do not mean by this that, like so many so-called early Oranges, 
