The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-02-26
EXPERIMENTS IN ORANGES
HoPE OF PRODUCING a JARRETT
THAT WILL RESIST FROST.

Some Progress Already Made by Crossing
tho Tropical and the Hardy Japaneue
Trifoliate O~range-Similnr Varieties OF
LINES and Lemons Also Expected
WASHINGTON. Feb. 25.-In spite Of the hope
less situation In which many OF the Florida
orange growers now lnd themselves. the pa
tient work which tho experimenters OF the
Agricultural Department are doing gives
ground for hone OF the ultimate-success OF
orange raising In the Easterns States. Here.
tofore attempts to outReneral temperatures
fatal to the golden fruitshave been confined to
moving the growing area further aud further
south until now groves are TO DO found.below
Tampa. which. until lately, was considered far
beyond the frost line. The erent cold wave OF
1894. however. wiped out all frost lines In Flor
da. and now In view OF the fact that II lie i'm
possible to get any further south. tho prop ,sl-
ton is to create n hardy oran 70 which can rec
sist the frosts that visit Florida and evon. IL IL
hoped, bear fruit In States further north.
1t may seem something like n fairy tale 70
talk OF growing shiny-leaved orange trees
laden with golden fruit along the banks OF the
Hudson. but the experts OF the Department OF
Agriculture declare that this should be by 10
means an impossibility. Stranger changes in
horticulture have been brought about by artl-
fetal means. Herbert J. Webber, a vegetable
patholoeist OF the'department. Ia authority for
the statementthat fully as remarkable things
have happened in plant life as the production
OF a hardy oranRe. and he firmly believes that
this result will be attained, In some measure 40
least. A hardy orange. II evolved. will result
from a naturalization OF the tropical orange
and the hardy Japanese trifcliate ORANGE
Citrus trifolidtd) 1.-The crossing OF the one on the
other. The t~rifoliate is perfectly hardy ms far
north as Philadelphia. but its fruit 10 useless.
80 that the idea is either to introduce some OF
~ -rI -,,n 4 t-NN NLA S~.,N
or to add to 1t some Of the qualities OF the
Southern orange and improve the fruit Of the
trifoliate. This work has already been done.
In fact, and Mr.. Webber has some thousand
crossed trees from one 10 two years old which
snow distinctly in appearance traits OF both
parents. 1t is hoped that they possess Likes
wise the frost resisting and FRUIT producing
qualities in combination. This cannot be dc.
termined for some years to come. The young
trees are to be sent TO Florida and Georgia
and budded on orange and trifoliate trees.
The operation Of naturalization is interest,"
ing, yet quite simple to one understanding the
growth Of plants. Many species OF plants and
trees are self fertilizing and will perfect fruit
from their own pollen. All that Ia necessary
to cross fertilize the orange Is to open the
flower buds a little prematurely. before the
stamens have allowed the pollen to escape
and ~fertilize the stiGmn. and cut the stamans
out: then transfer the pollen from the other
species to the stigma by means OF n brush.
stick or blowpipe
Much work along this line has boon done
and with success. Some years ago the phyl-
loXera threatened TO wine out the grape and
wine industry Of France. 1t was found that
American grapes were resistant to the dis
ease. and these grapes were hybridized with
the French wine grape. producing crosses
which retain the flavor OF the wine grape and
vet have proved entirely resistant to the
phylloxera. The work OF naturalization is ex-
tremely interesting to the scientist and highly
important to the fruit grower and the farmer.
No other mode OF improvement OF fruits aud
vegetables offers such possibilities as cross
fertilization. Hybrids. in almost every case.
combine the better qualities Of the two
parents and are uniformly more viRor-
GUS than the parents. The cross Of the Cali
fornia black walnut on tho common black
walnut produced a tree which grows about
four times as rapidly as the parents. making
a highly valuable timber tree and produces
nuts much larger than those Of either Of the
parent trees. A familiar example OF the ny
brid is the Keiffer pear. The Chinese sand
pear. an almost worthless fruit. crossed itself
probably through the agency OF bees or in.
sects upon European pear trees. and pro-
duced the Keiffer and the lie Cont. greatly inn
proving the quality of the fruit Of the aand
pear and affordine a'remarkably vigorous tree.
The Keifer now holds the first place on che
American market and can be grown much fur
Their south than the ordinary pear.
Important work is being done BY the De-
partment Of Agriculture in hybridizinG Sea
Island cotton with the common variety. The
Sea Island species sells for from 80 cents 20 go
cents a pound. whereas common cotton II
worth ; cents. The common cotton has a sta
p1a about thraa-fourtha NJ nm inch In lar 9TH
and the Sea Island has one about two inches
long. This long staple constitutes its value:
It Is used for adulterating silk. A cross made
last year produced a plant much more vigor-
GUS than either parent and bearing a staple
about half way between the two and much
heavier than either. Important results are
looked for from this naturalization.
It Is stated that n wheat has been developed
in England by crossing a fine variety with o
wild. worthless wheat. which produces fully
double the yield Of the best known variety and
the United States Government is now consld-
erinC the purchase of this variety. r
Quite Important. too. is the creation OF a n.y.
brid lemon and lime which will Withstand
frost. Mr.. Webber thinks there is no question
but that hybrids OF all these tender citrus
fruits. using the japanese hardy orange. will
be secured.
"Gt is almost impossible that it can fall"
Mr.. Weber said. 1t Is not q matter OF chance.
From the seedlings we now have II is plainly
evident that We have mingled the blood Of the
two species and It is not possible that some OF
these plants shall not prove moro hardy than
the sweet orange. Suppose We hnd that we
have secured a tree that will Withstand the
frosts OF Georgia. but which bears a fruit
which Is between the worthless fruit OF the
trifo!iate and the orange. Decidedly we have
progressed. We have not yet attained our full
desire. but we have made progress. for then
we can begin TO work for hybrids between the
hybrid and the parents. There are any num-
Der OF different strains possible. Suppose. on
the other hand. that we should obtain q cross
sufficiently hardy. but only a slight improve
ment on the fruit Of the trifo.iate. We would
then Immediately cross that cross with vari-
Gus oranges. and 50 on. constantly improving.
degree by degree. But nothing Is more aston
ishing than the productions Of hybrlds. They
are liable at a single Jump 10 com bine the bet
ter qualities of the two parents. In the pro-
,,aal nrnaaaa hatuaan tho trtEoifatA anA kkA