Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1928-01-22
Oldest Orange Trees
In Valley Bear Huge
Crop After so Years

Orange trees between so and 81
years OF age. their boughs bent By
the weight Of masses Of the COLDER
fruit OF delicious flavor, testify K
the fact that citrus fruit trees in the
Lower Rio Grande Valley can with.
/ stand all weather conditions L
which the Valley is subject.
What is the life Of citrus fruit
trees in the Valley ?" is a question
frequently asked.
No one knows. However, il j:
known that the citrus tree has beer
] endowed by nature with long life
! that IL will survive under condition:
which would prove disastrous 10 9th
or semi-tropical varieties. Citru:
trees in Europe and northern Africs
have been known 70 bear prolitIcalll
over a hundred years, and undei
proper care will probably do th'
same ii the Lower Rio Grande Val
ley.
The Valleys oldest citrus fruit
trees, planted sometime in the 7O's
on the Laguna SEGA ranch twenty
miles north and west of Edinburg
are excellent examples Of what the
trees in the Valley orchards vii
look like a half century hence. Tall
J symmetrical, with leaves a dark lus
/ trous green. the seven aged trees a.
the old ranch rank among the mos
beautiful products Of nature.
Each year they fruit heavily. Th'
1926-27 crop from the seven tree:
was enormous. Long mesquite pole!
were employed TO prop up The
branches which threatened to breal
under the weight of their colder
loads. The high winds last spring
during blossom time reduced th'
crop To some extent this year, bu'
there was sufficient to supply th'
needs Of the ranch, the n%eighbors
and some TO market.
While the variety has not beer
definitely determined, II IS believed
) be a large type Of the Spanish
sect orange, a fruit grown exten'
t1ly on the shores Of the Mediter.
ualn. The flavor Is delicious, the
Lure almost perfect. 1t has none
the flat flavor OF the California
1- Florida range or the woody
..A ulE OF tAt 4GAAAE4s Int 4A4AA -
r5 near perfect in color, shape, flavor
and texture as has ever been pro-
duced.
Planted BY Oblate Fathers
The seeds from which the trees
grew were planted by some of the
Oblate Fathers between so and GO
years age. The Laguna SEGA ranch,
which has been in the possession OF
the Nela family over $50 years, and
in the early days comprised over
$4,000 acres, was visited every few
weeks BY the Oblate Fathers from
Brownsville and Rio Grande City. 1t
was a common practice of the priests
TO carry gifts for the children, and
on one occasion they brought
oranges.
Seed from the fruit were planted
and a few months later the first
shoots appeared. They we're care
fully nutured by members of the
Nela family. AS the trees grew and
began to bear fruit around each tree
was constructed n low wall of adobe
brick, and these circular walls, the
brick reduced by erosion Of wind and
rain to about half their original
thickness, still stand as evidence OF
the great age Of the trees they sur
round.
The Misses Carlota and Delfina
Nela, the present owners of the
ranch, which through partitions and
sales has dwindled 10 5000 acres
can remember that the trees always
bore fruit. Ramon Nela, their broth
er. now over go years Of age. can re-
member picking fruit from the trees
when a small boy.
They have been here ever since
| was a small boy" was the state
ment Of one Ct the old vaqueros Of
the ranch who was born on the La
guna SEGA ranch over seventy years
ago, and has been a lifelong en-
ploye Of the Vela family. The aged
vaquero remembered that the seed
were planted by the children and
priests; that the trees had been
carefully injured. and that they had
borne heavy yields Of fruit almost
every year. A hard freeze which oc-
Cured while they were very young
froze the trees to the ground, but
they grew UP more thrifty than ever,
and in a few years had attained a
4Atcc G4AAANANlAg " NsNAsNaAu Wv
most trying weather conditions "a
which Valley citrus Is subjected.
The trees average from 10 to Il
inches in diameter. Though they
have never been pruned or received
expert care thew have developed
very symmetrically. and the lustrous
green of their foliage attests their
thriftiness.
One Of Oldest Ranches
The Laguna SEGA rancho i one Of
the oldest on the lower border. The
original $4,000 acres granted by the
king of Spain to Macedonia Vela was
held intact by the family almost
100 years. The old ranch house, con-
structed Of adobe brick over rs years
ago, was for almost a century the
center OF civilization on that part
Of the border. Following the par
tition among the heirs Of the orig
inal grantee most of the acreage of
the Vels family was sold, but they