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Paper Abstract: Discusses the development of the citrus fruit as a crop. Origins and early historical function of oranges. Introduction to the New World. Growing popularity in America's citrus belt. Op[timal climate for growing sweet oranges. How growers combat frost. Effect of disease and economics.. Characteristics of oranges as a viable food crop. Paper Introduction: This paper is a discussion of oranges, their development as a fruit crop, and the effects of weather, climate, and other environmental forces on their growth. Although oranges are familiar fruits across the world, they are a relatively modern addition to international food choices, providing health benefits as well as culinary diversity. They can be grown widely but only within the "citrus belt," the latitudes that allow for the temperate climates and sufficient rainfall that the trees need to produce healthy, good-sized fruit. 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 Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. "World Production of Important Commercial Varieties." In Walton B. Works CitedBatchelor, Leon D. Although oranges are familiar fruits across the world,they are a relatively modern addition to international food choices,providing health benefits as well as culinary diversity. "New Route to Sweet Navel Orange Juice." Science News 13 (1986, September 2 ): 19 .Trussell, Tait. For longer cold spells and especially in climates at the extreme northand south of the citrus belt, the best weapons require planning that beginswith an awareness that temperature will naturally limit production.Growers need to start with varieties of trees that are known to be able towithstand cooler temperatures, growing rootstocks from the hardiest treesavailable, planting in protected locations, and keeping the trees ashealthy as possible to allow them to use their natural resources towithstand the cold. Winston W. Some of these lessons included choosing the rightlocation within the greater geographical region. They were seenin South America by the middle of the 16th century, in Arizona in the early17 s, and in California in the early 18 s, but even a small Californianorchard planted in the 19th century was "considered a very dubious andspeculative venture at the time it was planted" (Batchelor 4), since thefruit was rare enough to limit its popularity. The Orange: Its Biochemistry and Physiology. Batchelor and Walton S.Sinclair write, "Oranges and other citrus species have been cultivated fromremote ages, and records of this early distribution from the originalhabitat to nearby countries are lost in antiquity" (3). Because oranges as a viable food crop are still a relatively modernphenomenon, scientists and growers continue to experiment with the bestbalance of nutrients needed to grow an optimal fruit. The first solid records of the fruit that the modern farmer wouldrecognize as an orange was in the ninth century in Arabia and in Sicily in1 2. The Greeks seem not to had any knowledge of anykind of citrus fruit or tree. . Florida citrus baron Ben Hill Griffin, Jr., is an example of a growerwho built his business by paying strict attention to climate conditions.He started his citrus empire on a 1 -acre plot by learning from hisfather's example and by applying climatic lessons he learned in three yearsof agricultural college. They can be grownwidely but only within the "citrus belt," the latitudes that allow for thetemperate climates and sufficient rainfall that the trees need to producehealthy, good-sized fruit. By carefully timing when trees are fertilized andpruned, growers can reduce the stress on the tree and the fruit itproduces, enabling the plant to handle cooler temperatures moreefficiently. These are grown principally in California, Arizona, andFlorida, in the United States, and in Israel, Spain, Brazil, and Italy,with smaller volumes produced by most of the other countries around theglobe that fall within the citrus belt, including Mexico, Argentina, FrenchMorocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, South Africa, Cyprus, Australia, andtheir country of origin, China. Jones notes that restricted water produces smaller fruit, while toomuch variation in temperature affects the sweetness of the fruit. They did not begin their trek across the so-called citrus belt, thearea 4 degrees above and below the equator in which most citrus treesthrive, until Roman times. "The Last of the Citrus Barons." Nation's Business 77:2 (1989, February): 46-48. By the 15thcentury, orangeries, glass houses constructed exclusively to grow oranges,were being built on many of the wealthier French estates to allow thenobility to enjoy the luxury of this refreshing new variety of fresh fruit. Riverside, CA: U of California, 1961: 25-55.Raloff, Janet. Byzantine mosaics include depictions of oranges. Because orange trees are evergreens and do not shed their leaves inthe winter, they require water throughout the year, not just when they aredeveloping and ripening their fruit. The Romans record the discovery of citrontrees in Palestine in the first century AD, trees which were imported toItaly and began to be widely planted in the second and third centuries,especially near Naples. The best range is 7 degrees Fahrenheit to 9 degrees. "Environmental and Cultural Factors Influencing the Chemical Composition and Physical Characters." In Walton B. Advective freezes arethe results of cold air fronts, usually cover a much wider area, and aremuch harder to combat, as arctic air is usually carried in by winds thatsweep out both the warmer air accumulated during the daylight hours andmost local attempts to generate warm air artificially. Yet these citrons, the forerunners of modernoranges, were not a food crop. Jones observes, "Temperature appears to be the mainclimatic factor that influences fruit quality" (43). Leon D. Legend says that Saint Domine planted the first orange tree inRome in 12 AD. The Orange: Its Biochemistry and Physiology. The largest crops include Valencias and otherpopular varieties and are used both as fresh fruit and as the source oforange juice. Wilson observes,"The nutrient lacking in most citrus-producing soils is nitrogen," addingthat its scarcity reduces fruit size and thickens the peel (26). Oranges are believed to have originated in the more tropical regionsof China and the Malay Archipelago. Sweet oranges (Citrus sinensis) were first reported in India in 133 ,and, by 1421, had made their way to the court at Versailles. So in 1917, he moved to what is now Frost-proof, [Florida,] a place so named because the oranges and grapefruit thereescaped the great freeze of 1895" (47). The soil needs to be kept moist butnot sodden, and irrigation needs depend on the available rainfall. Farmers often combat such frosts by using wind machines to mixair layers and reduce the effects of the cold night air. He alsonotes, "Phosphorus deficiency results in large, coarse, and misshapen fruitwith exceptionally thick peel and hollow center" (43). Frosts can bevery local, making them both easier to try to control and more difficult topredict when growing crops over a very large area. In addition, economics affect crops, as supply and demand regulateseach season's production. Diseases also threaten crops, including a canker that has sometimesrequired entire orchards to be destroyed; some strains can only beeliminated by burning the affected trees and replanting the whole orchardafter testing has proved that the canker has been completely eradicated. . The fruit ripens only on the tree, so the treesmust be raised in areas in which climate can be controlled or relied on toprovide optimal fruit quality for the time needed to grow a fully ripenedfruit. Moderateto the higher ranges of heat are needed to form sufficient sugars in mostvarieties of sweet oranges. They were used primarily to provide apleasant fragrance in rooms and to repel insects, but produced an almostinedible fruit. Tait Trussell writes,"Griffin's father had figured that citrus should be planted on hilly slopesto the south of large, deep lakes where the cold air was least likely tosettle and destroy a crop . Nevertheless, oranges are comparatively easy to grow throughout theentire citrus belt, the geographic area most conducive to their basicneeds. When climatic conditions affect production,producing either too large or too small a crop, growers may elect tostockpile fruit in cold storage or not to pick all the fruit. Riverside, CA: U of California, 1961: 1-24.Jackson, Jerry. Janet Raloff reports of experiments in whichauxins, a plant hormone, are sprayed onto the leaves of sweet orange treesthat produce sweet fruit but bitter juice in an attempt to sweeten thejuice (19 ). A sweet orange tree planted in Lisbon in 1548 was reported to be stillliving in 1823. Eventually, however, the citrus belt in the Americas became one of thegreatest producers of an increasingly popular fruit crop, as sweet orangesin particular have developed a worldwide demand. This includes fertilizing only after the last frost iscompletely past and stopping in late summer, to allow the tree to finishits cycle well before the cold returns. JerryJackson refers to this practice as "economic abandonment" (K 834), whenfruit is left to rot on the trees rather than being sold on a gluttedmarket. This paper is a discussion of oranges, their development as a fruitcrop, and the effects of weather, climate, and other environmental forceson their growth. Oranges were introduced gradually into the New World. Some sweet oranges do not necessarily yieldnaturally sweet juice. While Spain remains the most significant source of sour oranges (usedprimarily for orange marmalade), and mandarin or tangerine oranges (Citrusreticulata Blanco and Citrus nobilis) are grown primarily in Japan andFlorida, sweet oranges constitute the most significant part of theworldwide orange crop. The single most critical factor in an area's suitability for growingoranges is temperature. Keepingorange crops properly watered is not as critical to production as iskeeping temperatures balanced, but a prolonged drought can have asignificant effect if it is not balanced by sufficient artificialirrigation. Sinclair. Seven of these were presented to England's queenas an exotic treasure. In the short term, in addition to using wind machines, farmers canfight the cold by watering the soil for a day or two before the freeze isexpected, since moist soil holds heat longer than does dry soil. Sinclair, Ed. Too much or too little heat for too longa time can keep the fruit from ripening or make it too bitter to consume.Consistent periods of 1 degrees and higher or 55 degrees and lower candestroy most of a season's crop. A Spanish ship brought England its first shipment ofSeville oranges in 129 . Wherever temperatures typically stay within acceptable limits andnature provides adequate moisture, even inexperienced gardeners are usuallyable to produce at least a minor crop of the fruit that has become a stapleof many different cultures and many different kinds of modern diets. Freezing spells can be either radiation or advective freezes.Radiation freezes, the kind of reduction in temperature commonly referredto as a frost, are situations in which the warm air collected during theday radiates back into the atmosphere at night, cooling the soil tooquickly. Oranges have becomepopular not only because of their sweet taste as a juice and a fresh fruitbut also because of their benefit as a natural source of the essentialvitamin C, a benefit that has been increasingly recognized as combatingdiseases from scurvy to the common cold. These were sour orbitter oranges (Citrus aurantium) that eventually became equated in thepublic mind with Spain as Seville oranges, and they made their firstappearance in that country during the occupation of the Moors in the 12thcentury. Sometimesorange crops are left unharvested because the lowered prices of aparticularly bountiful season make picking them too expensive. "Crops of Orange and Grapefruit Fall Well Short of Last Year's." Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service (2 1, July 12): K 834.Jones, Winston W. Trunkscan also be wrapped in insulating materials, trees covered with cloth orplastic (removed during the day and positioned so as to allow air tocirculate freely through the foliage), and groves warmed with lights, heatlamps, and heaters. Sinclair, Ed. and Walton B. Growers need to paysome attention to balancing fertilizers and nutrients, especially when therequired amendments are not naturally present or have been lost due toovercultivation or other local environmental effects. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.