El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1899-03-02
SEEKING A NEW ORANGE.
The Agricultural Department Try
ing to Get One That Will Bear
Sweet Fruit in the North.

The Agricultural Department Try
ing to Get One That Will Bear
Sweet Fruit in the North.
Man Is seeking to improve natures
work upon the orange, and it is likely
that be will be able to do it, says the
Washington Star. II success crowns
experiments now in progress the orange
will become hardy fruit able to grow
and bear even as far north as Canada,
with skin that will peel off as easily as
q tangerine's, and perhaps devoid of
the seeds that now threaten the peril
of appendicitis.
Such 1recreation of this luscious
fruit-for that is what it would amount
to-wOuld deserve to rank with the
greatest marvels OF the end of the CEN
fury. 1t would revolutiopize and ex-
pand the orange-growing industry and
remove all danger from the frosts and
freezes that now, either blight or en-
tirely destroy the trees and their
fruit in The states where they are
grown. .uA
The freeze in the southern states in
1894 and 1895 destroyed every orange
tree, causing loss uoon the crop ex-
pected of nearly IS, 600, 900 and q dam
age to the industry in general that has
been computed at the extraordinary
fRureqof:i $75, OQ0,0 900. 1t will be five
years yet before orange growing is on
paying basis, and ten to fifteen years
before the orange crop is as large as it
was at the time of the disastrous
weather. e. ---E
Since that time the agricultural de-
partment has been experimenting in
the cross fertilization of oranges in the
hope OF prod ucing one or more varie-
ties that will resist the attacks of frost
and that will possess. the other quail
ties not found in the fruit of today.
The practical part of the work is be-
ing cond ucted under the supervision of
II j. Weber. and w. T. Swingle,
special agents of the division of vege-
ia BILE physiology and pathology.
Up to the present the experimental
processes have been productive of the
results expected, but the most interest
ing and delicate stages are yet to come.
In the greenhouse there are at least
1000 hybrid Rrowths from the seeds
that have been crossed, and next spring
many Of these will be taken to the
southern states and grated on the
orange trees growing there. Then at
least three years must elapse before
the grated trees will begin to bear
the fruit that is to be hardy, sweet.
loose-skinned and perhaps seedless.
In 1892 Messrs. Weber and Swingle
were in the south studying the
diseases that affect oranges, and the
need OF harder orange than the
usual varieties was brought to their
attention. This was emphasized by
| the disastrous frosts of 1895. Tb e
growers had sought 10 overcome their
ing and development seeds from only
the hardest of the trees growing in
their fields, but even these succumbe bed
| to the severe attacks of the invading
cold.
In the meantime experiments con-
Quoted by Mr.. Weber in this city
| turned out unfavorably, through 30
| fault of his own. It was in 1891 that
| he succeeded in by bridiMng the orange
of planting or grating. He bad found
prior to the hybridiziug,
that the Japanese trifoliste
| orange although its fruit is small
and of little vaaue.except for preserves,
is deciduous and go hardy that it can
be grown without protection as far
| north as Philadelphia. A number of
these trees had been planted in the de-
partment grounds, and, in spite of cold
had grown fruit, small and bitter. 1t
| occurred to him to cross. the Japan csc
variety with the different kinds that
| flourish in the south to get the hardy
quality. The practical work of hybri-
diZing then commenced.
If the seedlings that are grated en-
the southern trees develop d fruit that
cannot be killed in blossoms or M sturity
| by the winters in that sectip the
scientists will feel that they have been
sufficiently repaid for all their efforts.
Orange growing then would
not be attended by the great risks that
now encompass it. In addition, if a
| hardy orange can be produced that
will live in the north and yet have the
sweetness ard juiciness Of the southern
fruit, then the work of nature will have
been wholly improved by the hand and
L nfol of