The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-04-01
MILLIONS FROM TWO TREES.
DISCOYERY OF sEkDLEsS NAVEL
ORANGES and ITS RESULTS.
An Industry kevoiotionired Within 10
Years by shoots Brought From BraEh'
Cities Built and Millions Of Wealth
Crrntrd-A Fortunate 3 eriea Of Accidents


POMONA, Cal, March 27 Twenty Ave years
ago there were no ~-dless or navel oranges grown.
A few oranges were raised In Florida, hut the bulk
~ the supply In America came from the Medi,er-
rnnean ports and the frui, was ex~ r@nsi,e. The
total annual yield Of California oranges WAS less
than Ave carloads. Now the annual orange yield
In California In upward Of Is, 600 carloads, and
next year It may exceed 20, 900 carloads. The
total amount invested In orange properties In
California twenty five years ago was abouts23, 0Oo.
Now something lik. S43,OOO,O 900 IN invested IN
the orange industry In this State, and the amount
Ii increasing by about s., 900, 600 every year
The introduction OF The seedless navel orange has
caused these changes, II has revoluiionibed
the orange industry of the United States. II
has drawn 1900 men out Of other pursuits. 10
has transformed vast areas Of sunbsked land In
California into the most beautiful orange groves
that ever grew II has been the prime factor IN
the growth from nothing Of a dozen towns OF
5000. 5000 and 10000 people in southern Cali
fornia. and II has added directly more than elo''
OOO, 600 and indirectly soO, OOO, 1000 more to the
taxable wealth of this State.
The first seedless orange trees were apparently
f,e,ks of nature Their coun,erpar ts have never
-. 80 l., a.. u,uua, ~ 1879 William
oeen ,ound' IN ,he summer . p,.'
u q uiN'b = ~ 'A'
I'll heard AN accoun, from natives Of a few trees
a. a.. .m, = d, ~. ,,,,, h.rl ~ the Am,,on
III 'he s""mis III ~ noi,n o"'N VI |" ~
some sixty miles inland that bore oranges WIN
out seeds ue was NJ scientific hen, and A Consul
.I.,,.- ..a.... Ih..rdo,, hs s,,,,.
'h"'hhe" SouN'"''' :. -,
ing Of orange groves In Florida and he believed
tim, seedlcss orange trees were we'll worth expert
us,,trg with ,here So h. cen, A native
up the rver 10 cut some shoots OF inc uees anu
oct snmr Of the fruit When the native returned
a.. ,a..,i . d.unh,.I ,i,h N. sp.cimens
.o ''n'", y" Wv" '" '
Forthwith he sent SIX oi the orange Tree shoo's'
carefully hacked i'm wet moss and clay, 10 the Ag-
...,.,- nan.un.,, =. v..hi,n,nr g., n,or..
n'ui'urni I'|"'""'n, u ""'ni"s" " ", r'oi"
CATION, The trees did not excite az much a'teh-
tion in the Ipepar,ment AS the enthusiastic Consul
~ ax,o,,.d Two =, ,ho .h,o,s which vsr.
h"u eAp"'"u " " '"' '"""' W."
no bigger than horsew hips, died ron lack OF care
IN ,he Dopartment grounds and the others were
.I.as, to,ra,.r IN = ta, r,on,ha In ,hs uir,s,
"inos. io'so,"u NJ " y" m""'' :. -.
Of 1879 Mrs. Hora'io Tfbbetts, a native OF Maine
Was visiting tho f,miIv of her cousin. Gen. Benia.
"a. !, u"1.. l.. ca......m., ,,om No..
MIN r buue'' 'hen a 'ohereSs"'n "''''
from Boston TO Los Angeles, Cal, and was abou,
,n..mn, ,,.., - co,srrmsn, Land in tho
10 Pefmp' a "Ho, :, "o'r,n"en' 'o"' :" Wv
San Demanding Valley. The scheme was an
uncertain one, but anyhow he Intended 70 grow
semi .~trolacal fruits there. lie asked Mrs. libbetts
10 get from ten. Butler an Introduction at the
akl ~ W ~" "a hhA' c"' ~ ~" " H"@
for specimens Of fruits and shrubs suitable for
experimental Propagation IN southern california
Among other things Mrs. Tibhetts got from the
Department grounds the four surviving. orange
tree shoots from brazil. The trees reached MI,
1ibbelts safely at riverside, cal a week later
ana v r. lumeoiat"ly l%lan'e, hat was in
Dcampr ih15. the Of I'll" shoots Cied rom
neglect and another v as broken and chewed up
by u COW.
Five years passed and the two surviving trees
came into bearing, In the winter OF 1873 10 they
bore sixteen oranges, the first seedless oranges
ever grown in North America. The specimens
were carried about southern California and
shown " all rsnchmen and fruit growers. There
were many who doubled whether ths trees would
annually bear such royal specimens Of orange
culture; Nearly every one believed that the fruit
would become coarse and tough in a few years
more. So the second crop was awaited with
curiosity. among the nelghbors Their were
about a box Of oranges in the second yield and
they were even BITTER than those Of the first crop
The fame Of the 1ibbetts seedless oranges went
far and wide IN southern California. People
who were glowing the, old fashioned oranges
ravelled hundreds OF miles in wagons 10 sse the
trees, still there were less than half q dozen
people who believed that such a freak as a seed
less fruit could ever be propagated into an es'
tabl.shad industry.
i remember NE time l saw some OF the
second crop ot libbettS seedIess navel oranges,
said ex-senator j, r. Met omas. Several
OF US Seeding orange growers went over "
Riverside p~urposely 10 see what truth there was
in the statement that Horato libbetts had trees
that grew oranges without seeds We looked
VIC WV ucNN .oNVl h.hh ~. ohhinVb Vic i"'
and wondered how II could BE- Larger, luicier
and NOR pungent fruit We had never known,
But II all seemed so freaky that no one dared
risk several thouSa nd dollars ana SLY OF seven
years In trying u grow navel oranges for market
Moreover none oi US knew how " go about nav
Ing q grove OF s-edleSs oranges because there WAS
no seed 20 start II"
MI Ilbbetts was sure that there was a fortune
in his new variety ~ oranges. For two years
he experimen,ed win pI3pagaung trees from
shoots and cuttings from his Two seedless orange
trees, Butall his attempts were failures. FINALLY
he hit upon the scheme OF budding from the seed
less navel trees upon Seeding trees, E1pen
nents along mat I'm" were successful II was
found that a bud taken from one 81 llbbetts two
navel orange trees and grated into the bark Of
a Seeding tree would grow TO be a limb, which
bore sfedless navel oranges. hen MI lib
belts grew tiny seeding orange trees. Just as
had been done by orange growers for ages, and
buddcd into the trunk Of each little tree several
navel orange buds, When the buds had become
branches oi The trees, he cut away all the original
or Seeding branches, leaving only the navel
orange branches IT, bear fruit In this way he
easily created navel orange trees, and the prob
lem Of growing goddess oranges was solved.
The planting of groves Of seedlass orange trees
propagated from buds from the two original trees
on the Tibbatts place began in earnest throughout
southern California, in the winter 81 1852 In
the following year the denand for buds from the
Tibhe,ts trees was so large that a dozen buds
sold frequently Tor So and some growers. DESTROYS
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