THE CUBA REVIEW. 



27 



DECAY IN ORANGES. 



Florida Loses $500,000 Annually Through Decay — Interesting Experiments to 



Discover Causes. 



The loss through decay in transit or on 

 the market, in the Florida orange industry, 

 is something like $500,000 annually. Some 

 interesting experiments to discover the 

 causes of the decay have been made by the 

 U. S. Bureau of Plant Industry, and Cir- 

 cular No. 19 contains information of value 

 to Cuban orange growers. 



A minute fungi does the damage, but it 

 appears an orange with an uninjured skin 

 is immune. Bruised or broken skin is the 

 first requisite of decay. 



Punctures by clippers in severing the 

 fruit is the injury most common. Then 

 follows injuries by pulling the oranges, by 

 splinters in the crates, and cuts made by 

 the finger nails of the pickers or packers. 

 Then about seven per cent, of the fruit 

 had stems sufficiently long to injure other 

 fruit. 



Injuries by clippers represented 6.1 per 

 cent, and long stems 16.8 per cent. 



In every experiment it was found, sound, 

 carefully handled fruit, graded and sized 

 by hand, showed the least decay. 



Experiments to determine the loss by 

 decay were made with (1) sound oranges 

 graded by hand; (2) sound oranges graded 

 by machinery; (3) oranges dropped 18 or 

 20 inches into the basket or field crate ; (4) 

 mechanically injured oranges, showing some 

 kind of puncture or abrasion. After being 

 held two weeks in the packing house these 

 results were obtained : 



No. 1. 2.1 per cent, of decay. 

 " 2. 20.3 " " " " 

 " 3. 10.0 " " " " 

 " 4. 35.4 " " " " 



With shipments to Washington examina- 

 tions were made upon arrival, after one 

 week and after two weeks, with the follow- 

 ing results : 



Decay After After 

 on arrival. 1 week. 2 weeks. 

 Per-cent. Per cent. Per cent. 

 No. 1 ... . 0.4 1.9 4.5 



2 . . . . 1.1 5.4 12.4 



3 . . . . 2.3 6.0 10.9 



4 . . . . 20.2 38.0 52.4 



As careless handling certainly prepares 

 the way for 'decay, there was instituted a 

 campaign of education among the pickers, 

 each being shown the damage that was 

 being done and its injury to the fruit's 

 keeping qualities. 



Within three weeks, the damage from 

 clipper cutting was reduced one-seventh and 

 the total injury by reason of long stems one- 

 fourth. It was also found that the use of 

 a hopper was a source of much injury, and 

 the department believes that the hopper can 

 be eliminated and the fruit delivered to the 

 sizing machine on carrying belts. 



The ej^perimental work indicates that 

 what has been accomplished may be dupli- 

 cated in Cuba. The decay of oranges is 

 closely connected with rough methods of 

 handling the fruit. Careful methods result 

 in good keeping quality. Rough and care- 

 less work should be expected to cause decay, 

 and the experiments show that this is true. 



Advantages of Goat's Milk. 



Both as a milk producer and as meat, 

 the goat, it seems, has been much neglected, 

 says the Duchess of Hamilton, president of 

 the British Goat Society. She says that 

 goat's milk and goat's flesh should be more 

 used, and she practices what she preaches. 



Her four children, the eldest of whom is 

 not yet six years old, have all been fed on 

 goat's milk, and wherever they go a goat 

 accompanies them, so that there is always 

 a supply of goat's milk at hand. 



In addition, the Duchess advocates the 

 eating of goat's flesh, which, she says, re- 

 sembles Welsh mutton in flavor. 



There is little or no danger of phthisis 

 being contracted from use of goats' flesh. 

 Goats rarely, if ever, suffer from the dis- 

 ease, and their milk cannot contain its 

 germs. 



"Again, goat's milk is very rich in nutri- 

 ment, and is of great value in the feeding 

 of children. It contains a high proportion 

 of cream, and has no unpleasant taste. 



"They are hardy animals, and find nutri- 

 ment where a cow would .starve. 



"A friend of mine bought a milch goat, 

 and fed it a pound of oats a day. 



"He got a quart of milk in the morning 

 and a pint in the afternoon, and he said he 

 preferred it to that from the dairy." 



A Sweetmeat from Bananas. — A delicious 

 sweetmeat is prepared in Santo Domingo by 

 both natives and foreigners, says U. S. 

 Consul Ralph J. Totten, of Puerto Plata. 

 Large, thoroughly ripe bananas are used. 

 The skins are removed and the fruit cut 

 into thin quarter-inch thick slices, sprinkled 

 with fine or powdered sugar and placed in 

 the sun, on boards. As the fruit dries out 

 it is turned over several times and each 

 time is dusted with the sugar. In a few 

 days it becomes sufficiently dry and the re- 

 sult is a crystallized conserve most delight- 

 ful to the taste, and superior in flavor to 

 any of the costly crystallized fruits. 



Lands in Texas thought almost worthless 

 and fit only for goat grazing are now bring- 

 ing their owners an annual net income of 

 between $300 to $500 per acre from onion 

 crops. What can be done in Texas and 

 Bermuda may be done in Cuba. 



