Drawn by the California dream of golden sunshine and promise, many settlers came to the Covina Valley, where, after clearing the rocks, sagebrush, and cactus, they found rich alluvial soil. With the addition of water, everything grew in abundance. Citrus gradually became the best cash crop. This is the story of the men and women who made the citrus industry work in and around Covina, how they founded towns and eventually planted 25,000 acres of oranges, lemons, limes, and grapefruits. They endured droughts, floods, freezes, insect invasions, and unscrupulous buyers who almost ruined them financially. Together they developed water resources and the first stockholder-owned citrus cooperative, and brought railroads, transforming the Covina Valley into a major citrus producing and processing center.

The world production of citrus fruit has risen enormously, leaping from forty-five million tons a year to eighty-five million in the last 30 years. Today, the potential applications of their essential oils are growing wider, with nearly 40% of fresh produce processed for industrial purposes. Citrus: The Genus Citrus offers comprehensive cove

Covina began as a coffee plantation carved out of Rancho La Puente, which John Rowland had purchased from California's Mexican government. Rowland later shared the land with his friend and partner William Workman, and after Rowland's death, his widow, Charlotte, sold 5,500 acres to Julian and Antonio Badillo, on which they attempted unsuccessfully to grow coffee. Joseph Swift Phillips purchased 2,000 acres of the Badillo land, subdivided the tract, and laid out Covina's town site. Covina came to grow, process, and ship eight percent of California's citrus, transforming into a farming community that was neither rural nor urban. Residents established cultural, social, and civic organizations, founded a scientific study group and a literary society, and even built an opera house.