ORANGES. The ordinary Sweet Orange appears to have been first cultivated in the fifteenth century, but it has since spread to every part of the world where the climate is of sub-tropical warmth. The tree is an evergreen of moderate height with white flowers of heavy, sweet fragrance and considerable beauty (see Color Page opposite page 426). It bears foliage, flowers and fruit simultaneously, for the fruit requires about twelve months to become fully ripe. Mature cultivated California trees of good growth will generally give from two hundred and fifty to four hundred fruit annually. Those in more tropical latitudes average considerably higher and often produce several times that number.
The first oranges in the market are the early Floridas and, next, the Arizona Navels, commencing November 1 or even earlier. Then comes the bulk of the Califor nia and Florida products—Navels and others. The finest summer orange is the Late Valencia of California, in season from the middle of June to November.
There is an increasing demand for fancy varieties of the Tangerine type—strongly aromatic fruits, generally small in size and flattened at the ends, with loose dark colored skins and mild, sweet, rather dry pulp. They have been nicknamed "kid glove" oranges, because one can eat them without the aid of plate or spoon, as conve niently as candy. The most popular of the numerous varieties are the Tangerine proper, the Mandarin, larger and lighter in color, the Satsuma, and the King of Siam, or "King"—the last named generally of fair to large size and of very rough skin (see Color Page of orange types opposite page 430).
The ordinary sweet orange imported from Europe is the variety known as the Lisbon or Portugal and its near relatives. The most noteworthy special types include the St. Michael ; the "China," with very smooth, thin rind and abundant juice ; the Maltese or "Blood Orange" with mottled pulp, and the Tangerine. The European Tan gerine is grown in two sizes—one about- half the size of an ordinary orange, and the other very small and sweet, scarcely an inch in diameter. The latter is seldom seen in
this country. Still others are the Majorca, a seedless type, and the Egg Orange, so named from its oval shape.
By far the greater part of the oranges eaten in the United States are now grown in Florida and California, supplemented by a considerable supply from Porto Rico. The importations from the other West Indian Islands and Europe, formerly very large, have been great ly reduced and are still falling. A noteworthy percentage of the present supply of imported • oranges comes from Mexico, and there is also a small regular influx from Japan (chiefly of a type a little larger than the Mandarin), parts of Central America, etc.
The fame of the California product has been much enhanced by the fine "Navel" or seedless oranges marketed in increasing quantities each year. Contrary to general belief, these oranges are not the result of scientific development by hortieulturists. They are a natural fruit of special variety.
The story of the rise of the Navel to its pres ent commercial importance, reads like a fairy tale. In 1872, an United States Consul at Bahia, Brazil, sent a few young seedless orange trees from the swamps of the Amazon to Washington. The fol lowing year, a Mrs. Eliza Tibbets, of Maine, took three of the shrubs to Riverside, California, and planted them on land which her husband had purchasedthere. Two died, but the third sur vived, throve and bore fruit. California growers were quick to appreciate the merits of the Navel and competition in its cultivation was very keen. As the oranges were seedless, propagation had to be accomplished by budding, and for a time Mrs. Tibbets secured a dollar a bud for all she sold.
In 1880, the navel orange crop was one whole box !—but since, from that one tree has grown an industry whose yearly value averages from fifteen to twenty million dollars. The original tree planted by Mrs. Tibbets still lives and bears fruit. It is now in the court of the Glenwood Hotel, Riverside, California, where it was trans planted with much ceremony in 1903.