The Florida agriculturist., 1906-02-28

or less success since its first settle
ment by the Spaniards and French,
but it is about $50 miles north of
the coast; being midway and on a
direct line between New Orleans and
Shreveport. 1t is in the midst of the
great cotton belt of the country, and
above where sugar cane is grown as
business. Many of the more north
ern fruits, such as the peach and
plum, and to some extent the apple,
are grown there. The cold spells are
not very severe, nor of long duration
there, but a temperature of 10 to II
degrees above zero is not uncommon.
1t is there that Mr. Normand is max
ing his efforts to originate varieties
of the orange that will be sufficiently
hardy safely to pass the winters to
which they are subject, and if there,
then to endure the winters of other
sections equally as cold. Although
it has only been a few years since he
began his experiments in crOSS-breed-
ing the oranges, he has already sue
ceeded in getting several varieties
that give promise of being very val
liable, because of their combined
hardness of tree and good size and
flavor of fruit.
AS may be known to nearly all
who have given any attention to the
study of the citrus fruits, the species
known as Citrus trifOliata is the
hardest of all the species of that
genus, and it is able to Withstand
the winters as far north as Long Is
land, ON the Atlantic coast, and is
perfectly at home at Washington, d.
c., and other places where it is no
colder than there. 1t is this species
that Mr. NOrmand and the officials
of the United States Department of
Agriculture have been experiment
ing with and trying so to combine
with the sweet oranges, by crossing,
that some of the progeny will be far
harder than the old and tender va
rieties, and yet bear delicious fruit.
The fruit of citrus trifOliata is small,
acid to the taste, and very SeeGy.
The tree is very small, being more of
a bush than a tree, and exceedingly
thOrny; which peculiarly fits it for
making hedges. 1t is both servicea-
BILE as a fence and as an ornamental.
The leaves are dark, shiny green, and
the flowers are pure white and very
lGdSGdut- MI. INOIluduu ludhy
thousands of the young plants i'll his
nursery, which he frequently sells for
the above purpose, principally. He
has so far used this hardy species for
the male parent of his crosses, which
understand is different from the
plan of the Government experiment
ers, in that they used it as the female
parent. He has a great predOmi-
nance of the appearance of the sweet
oranges in his crOSs-bred seedlings,
in leaf, fruit and absence of thOrns;
while the contrary is the rule among
the many seedlings of the Govern
ment crosses that l have seen in the
trial orchard in Northern Florida,
and to some extent elsewhere.
So far, Mr. Normand has not fruit
ed many of his citrus crosses, nor
has he deemed it wise to give but few
of them varietal names. He has sent
little of the stock out to be tested by
experimenters, and that is under
the most rigid rule of his control,
and he has none of it for sale. 1t
will take several years yet to deter
mine the hardness and other valua-
bic qualities that they will probably
prove to possess. When this is done it |
will be time to give the varieties out
to the public. One variety he has