No. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 357 



interest lias- been developed in this connection, many kinds of ap- 

 paratus Lave been devised as means of applying or generating the 

 requisite heat and smoke. While the practice must still be regard- 

 ed as in the experimental stage, material progress has been made 

 towards perfecting devices. When we know more about the range 

 of possibilities and methods of working, it will doubtless be pos- 

 sible to formulate fairly definite plans of procedure. 



It is now time to say that the production of good fruit does not 

 consist in the tillage of the orchard, as important as that may be, 

 or in fertilizing the soil well, nor in pruning, spraying, smudging, 

 etc. But it does consist, other things being equal, in all of these 

 various operations properly timed and adjusted to each other. Each 

 one has its relationships to all others a break at any point in these 

 relationships and a poorer grade of fruit is the result. 



I am not supposed to say anything about the handling of fruit 

 in the present connection, yet there is a pretty close connection be- 

 tween the production of it and its handling. There are only one 

 or two observations that I care to make about fruit handling, and 

 they are based on some of the experiences of some of my co-work- 

 ers in the Department of Agriculture who have been working in 

 California in connection with the fruit transportation and storage 

 investigations of the Bureau of Plant Industry. 



Four or five years ago the losses due to the decay of oranges 

 in transit from California had reached such an enormous amount 

 that it became alarming. The loss was variously estimated at from 

 seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars to one million five hundred 

 thousand dollars. The Bureau of Plant Industry of the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture undertook an investigation of the cause of 

 this decay and the remedies. To make a long story, Avith many 

 details, short, the chief cause of the whole trouble lay in the me- 

 chanical injuries which the fruit received while being handled be- 

 tween the time it was taken from the tree and the time when it was 

 packed ready for shipment. 



The solution of the problem has been largely a thorough re- 

 organization of methods of handling with a view to reducing to a 

 minimum the mechanical injuries to the fruit. My reference to 

 this matter is made because it touches upon one of the fundamen- 

 tals of success. The careful handling of all fruit not intended for 

 immediate consumption is a "permanent issue'" among fruit growers 

 and others who may be concerned. A fruit is a living organism. 

 It breathes; it gives off carbon dioxide; it lives and dies and then 

 decays. Any sort of treatment which in any way destroys or in- 

 juries the cells of which a fruit is composed hastens its death and, 

 by so much, induces decay. 



In some cases it has been demonstrated that the mere drox)ping 

 of an orange no more than twenty inches onto a hard floor results 

 in a very material increase in decay in comparison with other fruit 

 handled in identically the same way save for the dropping. 



Of course the handling of citrus fruit as such, does not interest 

 you in any way but if you grasp the principle involved you will 

 see that the matter of extreme care in handling is not one of im- 

 portance merely with citrus fruits but that it holds good for all 

 fruits. 



