Evening star., 1912-09-05
fruit IS BETTERED
Orange Growers More Ready
to Accept Scientific Theories.
EXPERIMENTS SUCCESSFUL
A. D. Shamel Demonstrates Value
of Bud Grating.
HIGHER PRICES FOR PRODUCT
Department of Agriculture Expert
Also Has Done Much to Improve
Quality of Tobacco.
HIGHER PRICES FOR PRODUCT

Orange growers on the Pacific coast are
fast becoming converted to tho theories
of the Department OF Agriculture as
these theories are put into practice and
are responsible for larger bank accounts.
a. ID Shamel. who is we'll known in
Washington and who returns here from
field work almost every winter. reports
the latest changes. The demonstration
in this case was proving to the satisfac-
tion of the orange growers that there
was d distinct variation in the buds or
the same orange tree. and that by work
ing them up the same tree could be i'm
proved so that its fruit was worth SlJO
more per box on the New York market
When Shamel went to the Pacific coast
one of the first things he discovered was
that there were about seven different
varieties of navel oranges on almost
every tree. Shamel pointed out that there
were differences. that some of the oranges
We're thick skinned and almost sour. and
that others were thia-skinned and good
as an orange could be. They graded all
the way between these extremes.
.'Of course they do said the growers.
Naturally some oranges are better than
others They can't help It.
But il they can't help II. YOU can"
said this unreasonable young man, who
had been breeding corn and tobacco in
New England ana fldu SCdTtely ever seen
an orange outside fruit store
Demonstrates Theory.
The growers shifted and Shamel went
to work to prove his theory. He got buds
off the branches where the good. thin
skinned oranges grew and grated them
or the undesirable spots in the trees.
The buds came true to type and he found
that by working carefully he could make
I. L. g
and hang up good oranges on one side
and poor oranges on the other. He eX-
tended the work and got a lot of i'm
proved trees growing. Then he got some
of the growers to grade a big shipment
of oranges, according to his directions. and
sent them to the New York market to
see how the buyers ranked the different
sorts OF fruit from the same tree.
The result was that there was a differ
ence of S1.5o in the price they paid for
the high grade and the low grade fruit.
The growers capitulated. They said il
might not be true, but it had been done.
anyhow.
Trees Do the Talking.
Shamel spread his gospel of selected
budding. and when he got hold of skeptic
he did not argue with him, but took him
out to his private demonstration or
chard.'' where he had good oranges grow
ing on one SlOe OF the tree and poor ones
On the other. Shamel can talk 80 words
a minute IL he wants to- but he let the
variegated trees talk for him. These pie
bald orange trees did the trick. and the
grower who saw them went back con-
verted. II is big step in fruit breeding,
and the growers are protiting by il.
Shamel has done much the same thing
with tobacco in New England. though
there il has been by seed selection. Ordi-
narily the growers used 10 plant a patch
of seed tobacco somewhere out back of
their barn, and the good plants and the
poor ones got cross fertilized by the wind,
and IL was a ht-and- miss crop that some
times was profitable and as often was
not.
Experiments With Seeds.
Shamel went through the fields and
lected the best plants and those maturing
earliest and covered the seed cluster with
a paper bag There was no chance then
of cross fertilizing. Tobacco seed are
about the size OF very fine bird shot and
he rugged up glass tube arrangement
with a blower connected with the bottom
so a current of air could be driven
through the seed and would carry out
all the trash and light and ill-formed
seed. These good. heavy seed were plant
cd and they made possible tobacco grow
ing on waste land that had never been
considered tobacco land at all. Now all
the New England growers use the paper
baS method of selecting seed and the in
dustry has made big jump.
Friends of Shamel in Washington will
IL interested TO know that mis- health is
much better than in recent years.