Oranges

Oranges are believed to have originated in the more tropical regions of China and the Malay Archipelago. Leon D. Batchelor and Walton S. Sinclair write, "Oranges and other citrus species have been cultivated from remote ages, and records of this early distribution from the original habitat to nearby countries are lost in antiquity" (3).

They did not begin their trek across the so-called citrus belt, the area 40 degrees above and below the equator in which most citrus trees thrive, until Roman times. The Greeks seem not to had any knowledge of any kind of citrus fruit or tree. The Romans record the discovery of citron trees in Palestine in the first century AD, trees which were imported to Italy and began to be widely planted in the second and third centuries, especially near Naples. Yet these citrons, the forerunners of modern oranges, were not a food crop. They were used primarily to provide a pleasant fragrance in rooms and to repel insects,

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fruit quality" (43). The best range is 70 degrees Fahrenheit to 90 degrees. Too much or too little heat for too long a time can keep the fruit from ripening or make it too bitter to consume. Consistent periods of 100 degrees and higher or 55 degrees and lower can destroy most of a season's crop. Florida citrus baron Ben Hill Griffin, Jr., is an example of a grower who built his business by paying strict attention to climate conditions. He started his citrus empire on a 10-acre plot by learning from his father's example and by applying climatic lessons he learned in three years of agricultural college. Some of these lessons included choosing the right location within the greater geographical region. Tait Trussell writes, "Griffin's father had figured that citrus should be planted on hilly slopes to the south of large, deep lakes where the cold air was least likely to settle and destroy a crop . . . So in 1917, he moved to what is now Frostproof, [Florida,] a place so named because the oranges and grapefruit there escaped the great freeze of 1895" (47). Freezing spells can be either radiation or advective freezes. Radiation freezes, the kind of reduction in temperature commonly referred to as a frost, are situations in whi
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Approximate Word count = 1910
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)

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