Lue Gim Gong

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Lue Gim Gong (呂金功, pinyin: Lǚ Jīngōng) is known for his contribution in Orange growing industry in Florida, USA.

Born in 1859 to a family of Chinese farmers, Lue Gim Gong [1], was interested in America and the opportunities that lay over the Pacific Ocean. After his uncle returned from America when Lue was 12, Lue pleaded with his parents to let him go with his uncle to America. His parents agreed, giving him a bolt of silk to sell when he arrived. He lived in a heavily Chinese populated area in San Francisco until the age 16 when he moved to North Adams, Massachusetts to work at a shoe factory. At this factory, Lue met Fannie Burlingame, his Sunday School teacher. When she learned of his skill with plants, she asked him to live with the Burlingame's to tend their greenhouse. She converted him to Christianity, and helped him become an American citizen in 1877.

Lue had been advised to move to a warmer climate due to his recent contraction of tuberculosis. Due to his conversion, he was unable to return to China. Fannie recommended a relocation to DeLand, Florida, where she and her sister owned land. Lue agreed, and in 1885, he was working once again, this time in orange groves.

Lue had learned some pollination techniques in China, with which he was able to develop an apple that ripened a month earlier than other varieties, and a tomato plant that grew in clusters. In Florida, Lue learned to cross pollinate citrus by watching bees. In 1888, he crossed the Harts Late Orange with Mediterranean Sweet varieties to produce an orange that was both sweet and hardy in cold weather; the "Lue Gim Gong Orange" is still grown in Florida today. He also produced a cold-tolerant grapefruit that was slower to drop.

In 1911, Lue was given the Silver Wilder Medal by the American Pomological Society for his work. Lue died on June 3, 1925, in DeLand, Florida.

Wooden Fish Songs, by Ruthanne Lum McCunn (Plume, 1996, ISBN 0807062294), is an historical novel based on Lue's life.

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