Eliza Tibbets - Initial Navel Testing

Initial Navel Testing

In 1873, Tibbets convinced William Saunders, who was a botanist, nurseryman, landscape gardener, horticulturist, and artist, to test a new citrus plant at her ranch in Riverside. Saunders, among many other things, had already designed the Soldier's National Cemetery at Gettysburg and the Lincoln Tomb Monument in Springfield, Illinois. With five other horticulturists he founded The National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry in 1867. As the nation's Chief Experimental Horticulturalist, he was responsible for the introduction of many fruits and vegetables to American agriculture. As Superintendent of the fledgling United States Bureau of Agriculture, he selected Tibbets as a test grower for his new seedless oranges collected from the Bahia region, on the Atlantic coast north of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. By planting and nurturing the Washington Navel Orange trees that Saunders had sent to her, Tibbets revolutionized the citrus industry in Southern California and beyond.