Mary k. Pinkham., age l0, of Peoria ill,., for her question:

How did the United States get its first Orange trees?

In China., and perhaps in Burma there were fragrant orange groves at least 3000 years ago, later, travelers carried samples to the middle east, from here, oranges were transplanted by the Arabs to Spain and Africa and by the crusaders to France and Italy,. Meantime the Portuguese brought a sweeter orange from india. The Spanish explorers who followed Columbus brought both the sweet and sour varieties to the new world.

In Florida, the trees planted by the Spanish languished until the railroad made it possible to ship the perishable fruit. Then profitable orange groves were planted. The builders of the Spanish missions planted oranges in California. In l877 a carload of the juicy fruit was sent east by railroad, and the golden state began planting orange groves to meet the nationwide demand