The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1903-03-08

Agriculture. learned through a CORE
spondent then in Bahia. Brazil. that the
oranges there were OF a superior char
scter TO any known in the United States.
The department accordingly ordered a
small shipment Of trees. The first lot
we're found dead upon arrival BY send
trees in fairly good condition were final
ly received by the department in 1870.
These were planted in one OF the green
houses and propagated from by budding
on small orange stocks. The young
trees thus propagated were distributed
to orange growers in Florida and Cali
fornia under the name Bahia" for
testing In 1873 two OF these young trees.
propagsted from those originally i'm
ported from Brazil were sent to l. c.
Tibbitts, OF Riverside. Cal. When these
came into bearing the superiority OF
their fruit TO that OF the other varfe-
ties then grown in California was quick
ly recognized. and the trees on Mr.. lib
bits place were largely propagated
from by California nurserymen. One OF
these renamed the variety Riverside
Navel and claimed to have Imported the
trees from Brazil himself Later. at a
conference OF orange growers held in
Los Angeles. Cal. the name Washing
ton Navel" was adopted for the variety
in recognition of the fact of its intro
duction by the Department OF AgricuI-
ture, and it is very generally grown at
present under that name The Ameri-
can Pathological Society still adheres to
the name Bahia, under which Mr. saun-
ders introduced it. and recognizes the
names Riverside Navel and washing
ton Navel" as synonyms It is now the
most extensively grown variety in Cali
fornia
Fruit of Fine Quality.
In Florida this variety yields fruit of
fine quality, but when budded on orange
stocks has not proven sufficiently pro
ductive in most sections to be prohtabIe
for planting in a commercial way. There
are strong indications that when budded
on stocks OF the rough lemon" its pro-
is Sufficiently improved to
commercial planting. and exr
Derimental efforts along this line are
now being made in that State.
The exact place Of origin OF this
orange is unknown. but the navel type
Is known 10 have existed for centuries.
Thus a very good illustration OF such an
grange appears in Natural History OF
Trees and Fruits" published az Frank
fort-On- Main in 1862 II seems aItogeth-
er probable that varieties bearing the
navel mark have originated in widely
separated regions either as seedlings or
as bud variations. which have been per-
petuated by means OF budding
lG4 grating. In this connection il is OF
interest 20 note that several navel Va
rieties have been introduced in this
country at different times.
Some of these are known under the
name australian Navel Parsons
Navel and Sanford Navel" but none
nave been found equal to the bahia in
productiveness or high
quality,
Some idea OF the Importance OF this
tree 10 the orange growers OF the United
States may be gathered from the state
ment regarding the great freeze in the
Florida orange section few years ago
Il is estimated that the loss OF navel
oranges oecasioned By this freeze ag-
in value 5000. zoe. A picture
herewith shows a navel orange grove
after the freeze. with thousands of
boxes OF oranges lying on the ground.