we had not ship and brave sailors, we should never see an orange or lemon. We

want millions of oranges every week, and they must come from abroad.

They grow in sunny Spain and Portugal and Italy, but in Italy the trees must have little huts put over them in winter. Some of the nicest oranges grow in Syria, at Jaffa, which in the Bible is called Joppa. California and Florida also send us an enormous number of oranges.

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The trees first grew in India, but long ago some were taken to America, and in those warm states they flourish splendidly. China grows the orange, and the Tangerine comes from Chinese orange called the Mandarin. The blood orange comes from Malta. Lemons need the same sort of climate as oranges, and grow freely in the countries round about the Mediterranean Sea. That was the first home of the lemon, but now it grows also in the East and West Indies, and, like the orange, is being cultivated in some parts of Australia. Its juice makes a delicious drink, and is valuable to the sailor as medicine.

The strawberries which everybody eats are grown in the open fields, chiefly in Kent. They ripen in June, and the best are all picked in three weeks. Many come from France, but they are not quite so nice as our own.

England grows the best apples, pears, plums, and grapes. There is something in the air of this country, and something in the soil, no doubt, which other countries have not got. So these English fruits are the best in the world, and cost more than those which have travelled half over the world before reaching the English shops. shops. Unfortunately, England does not grow nearly enough, so vast quantities of apples have to be sent to us from Europe, and from America, and from Tasmania. The skin of the foreign apple is tougher than that of the English apple. Many foreign pears, too, come to us from Europe and other parts of the world; but the pears of the western counties of England are favourites, both for eating and for the drink called perry, made from them. Cider is made from apples.

One of the things that we cannot grow is the banana. It was only a few years ago that it became a popular fruit in this country; but now ships from Jamaica and other islands in the West Indies, and from the Canary Islands, bring us more bananas than we could count. Jamaica grows great quantities of bananas, and, as it is a British island, we may look upon the banana as British fruit.