AN UNSOLVED ORCHARD MYSTERY 
As its popularity increased, interest in this grapefruit 
grew. Men of science followed its back track in an at¬ 
tempt to find out where it came from. They traced it all 
through the islands to the south and finally to Barbadoes. 
It seemed that the original American grapefruit tree grew 
there. It was even found that there was a record of its 
planting. 
In the year 1696, according to this record, a certain 
Captain Shaddock came to port in the Barbadoes. He 
was on his way home after many wanderings in the 
Orient. He had collected many things — among them 
seeds of various plants he had found growing around the 
world. Some of these he gave to the people of the islands 
to plant. 
These seeds yielded among other things the original 
grapefruit trees. From them have come all the grape¬ 
fruit trees of the Western World. When this product be¬ 
came popular in the United States, the botanists at¬ 
tempted to classify it. They gave it its proper place in 
the rue family, to which all the citrus fruits belong. Then 
they began inquiring for other specimens of it. But they 
failed to find a single one. If Captain Shaddock found it 
in the East, he did more than modern explorers have suc¬ 
ceeded in doing. It may exist there, but it has evaded 
search. Possibly it has become extinct. 
49 
