UP TO DATE HANDLING OF ORANGES 381 



value of the different sizes in the regular trade is given by Mr. Powell, 

 whose excellent publication on the marketing of oranges is cited in 

 the chapter on that fruit, in this way: "A car of Washington Navel 

 oranges may contain boxes of all sizes. A car is called a "standard 

 car" when it contains not more than ten per cent of each of the fol- 

 lowing sizes : 96, 112, 250, and not over twenty per cent of the 126 size. 

 The remainder of the car may be divided among the 150, 176, 200 and 

 216 sizes. If a car is sold to a dealer at a fixed price per box it is usual 

 to allow a discount of 25 to 50 cents per box on the excess in the 96, 

 112, 126 and 250 sizes, and a discount of 50 cents per box on the 48, 

 64, 80, 288, 300, 324, 360 and 420 sizes. The rule concerning the sizes 

 in a standard car may vary with the season, with the section and with 

 the general size of the fruit taken as a whole. When oranges of either 

 the large or small sizes are scarce, they are at a premium, and the pro- 

 portion in a car may be raised without discount. 



A CITRUS PACKING HOUSE 



To convey an idea of the systematic handling of citrus fruits in the 

 California packing houses, with the advantage of the best architectural 

 construction and arrangements and using up-to-date machines and 

 processes, is beyond the scope of this treatise. At some future day, no 

 doubt, some one will undertake an adequate publication on that subject. 

 To give the reader a glimpse of this branch of the citrus industry, the 

 following description by Mr. J. F. Adamson of the new plant of the 

 Pomona Fruit Growers' Exchange, the second of two large houses 

 owned by that association. There being nearly 300 active members, it 

 becomes necessary that the fruit be handled with expedition, and at 

 the same time with extreme care, the first so that there be no conges- 

 tion of of teams, and the second to prevent injury to the fruit : 



The fruit in the field, or picking boxes, is hauled in on spring wagons 

 covered from the sun by canvas wagon sheets, and is delivered directly to a 

 gravity conveyor, on which the boxes roll without jar to the point where they 

 are piled. It is manifestly impossible to regulate the delivery to the rate of 

 packing, so the fruit has to be piled as it comes in and taken to' the washer .as 

 needed. Passing through the washer, the fruit is rinsed off under a spray 

 of clean water, and goes directly to the drier, in which it remains for fifteen 

 minutes, being moved along under a gentle blast of dry air. At the end of this 

 time it is delivered to the sorting table, dry, and without having been handled 

 or bumped, except the handling of the boxes from wagon to conveyor, . and 

 from pile to washer. 



The sorting of fruit must of necessity be a hand job, as after all, there 'is a 

 certain amount of expert human judgment used in the separation of grades 

 in fruit or other produce which can not be done by machinery. In the sorting 

 table of this house, there is, however, an element of novelty. The fruit comes 

 before the sorters on the usual belt, but the similarity ends there. In the 

 ordinary sorting system the fruit is carried along in front of the sorters, and 

 each man picks off the grades of fruit as the belt moves along. The man at 

 the farther end of the belt picks over the fruit left on the belt by the first, 

 second, and third or fourth man, making an extremely limited system. In the 

 new table, however, the first man has a small table in front, of him to which 

 he switches as much fruit as he can handle, and from that table he sorts into 

 grades, and the fruit that passes him to the other man has not been picked 



