THE ORCHARD FRUITS 



203 



practically annihilated the Florida groves; the next season's 

 crop was reduced to less than a hundred thousand oranges. But 

 orange growing persisted, and is today an important asset to the 

 state. Florida oranges are thin-skinned, juicy and sweet; most of 

 them are of the Valencia variety. Another popular type is the 

 KING ORANGE, a spccics discovcrcd in China in the eighteenth 

 century and brought to California in 1880. King oranges, in 

 spite of their unprepossessing appearance and thick skins, are 

 very palatable and juicy, with a skin that separates easily from 

 the pulp. A variety of the king orange known as the tangerine 



Flower and fruit of the orange. 



has the pulp divided into readily separated segments; they are an 

 important crop in Florida, the neighboring gulf states and Cali- 

 fornia. Tangerines are also grown in Japan, China and southern 

 Europe. 



Orange growing began later in California than in Florida. 

 Spanish missionaries introduced the first trees in 1804. It was 

 seventy years later however before the first carload of fruit was 

 shipped east of the Rockies. With the development of irrigated 

 areas in southern California and improved means of transporta- 

 tion to the eastern markets, the California orange crop assumed 

 national importance. The orange groves of that state today re- 

 present an investment of a quarter of a billion dollars. California 

 growers depend upon two varieties; Valencias, for summer pick- 



