iformity in type is desirable for marketing, hence the
greater number of trees now being planted are of selected varieties of
proved merit. Many of the seedlings have produced most excellent fruit,
but a seedling has usually the disadvantage of being very full of
seeds, and having a lot of rag (the indigestible fibre round the pulp)
as compared with the worked varieties, which have either no seeds or
very few seeds and little rag. Seedlings are also of many types, and
they produce a lot of small fruit, thereby making an uneven sample,
whereas worked trees produce fruit even in size and quality. Seedlings
are probably the hardiest, and will stand the most neglect, but
experience is showing that worked trees are the most profitable to grow.
The growth of all kinds of citrus-trees from seed is a very simple
matter, all that is necessary being a well-prepared seed bed of friable
soil that is partially shaded from the heat of the sun, so as to protect
the young plants. Selected, fully ripe fruit from well-grown, prolific,
healthy trees is taken, and the seeds sown in rows in the seed bed, or
broadcast when weeds are not likely to be any trouble. Fresh seed
germinates quickly, and the young plants are soon ready to be
transplanted into the nursery bed, where they are either worked over or
allowed to remain seedlings. At twelve months old, from seed, a tree
will have a stem-diameter of about 3/4-inch, and a height of 3 to 4
feet, a growth about twice that made in the Southern States.

The general remarks I have given respecting our fruit soils apply with
equal force to those best adapted for citrus culture--viz., they must
possess perfect drainage, and be of a friable nature. We are growing
most of the best varieties of citrus fruit, the original trees from
which they are now being propagated having been introduced into the
State from the most celebrated citrus-producing districts in the world,
and, as stated and shown by the accompanying illustrations, they are all
doing well.

The Washington Navel, the variety of orange most commonly grown in
California, does remarkably well on our rich volcanic scrub soils, where
it has proved itself a regular bearer of high-class fruit. The
Mediterranean Sweet Orange, Valencia Late, and Jaffa also do well in
many parts, the Valencia Late adapting itself to most districts. Many
other kinds of oranges are grown, but the varieties mentioned are some
of the best, and are the ones now being pl