20 



CITRUS FRUITS IN CALIFORNIA: 



of well-cared for Navel orchards pro- 

 ducing a half box to the tree the 

 third year. It is best, however, not to 

 allow young trees to bear too heavily 

 as it retards growth thereby reducing 



the bearing area of the tree in follow- 

 ing years. Allow the tree to devote 

 its first years to producing wood 

 rather than fruit, thus increasing its 

 bearing capacity in later years. 



GROWING AND PACKING THE ORANGE 



The grower with five or ten acres 

 of oranges usually does not consider 

 it necessary to pack his crop, but in- 

 trusts it to the 

 shipper or as- 

 sociation hand- 

 ling fruit in his 

 locality; never- 

 theless, if the 

 growers would 

 give packing 

 more attention 

 it would tend 

 to improve the 

 fruit. 



It has been a 

 practice of the 

 small grower 

 to deliver fruit 

 to the packing 

 house without 

 noticing its 

 condition and 

 quality, wheth- 

 er above or be- 

 low the average 

 of his locality. 

 Only when the 



returns come in does he realize that 

 had the quality and size been better 

 more satisfactory returns might have 

 been realized. It must be borne in 

 mind that consumers are human be- 

 ings like ourselves, and that unless the 

 quality is such that it appeals to them, 

 they are going to pass it up in much 

 the same manner as we do when we 

 go into a store to purchase fruit or 

 vegetables for our own use. 



If the grower will begin studying 

 packing and marketing conditions, 

 noting the size and quality of fruit 

 demanded, methods of properly 

 handling and packing from orchard 

 to loaded car, it will often not only 

 assist to correct bad conditions in the 

 orchard for the production of the best 

 grades of fruit, but it will be a guide 

 in determining what shipper to in- 

 trust with your crop, for the shipper 

 who maintains the highest and most 

 uniform grade of packing is bound to 

 get the most satisfactory returns for 



the grower. It is necessary, first of 

 all, to keep the orchard in such con- 

 dition by proper methods of irrigating 



Method of furrowing for flooding. 



and cultivating that it will produce 

 only the best quality of. fruit. Size 

 and quality cannot always be gov- 

 erned by cultural methods, for it often 

 happens that climatic conditions cause 

 the fruit to be small one season and 

 large another, in spite of the care 

 exercised. Taken 'one year with an- 

 other, however, it pays to give inten- 

 sive culture. 



In picking and handling the fruit 

 care is essential, as the carrying qual- 

 ity of the fruit depends largely on the 

 manner in which it is handled from 

 the orchard to the car. The practice 

 of having fruit picked by day labor 

 gives better results. It costs a little 

 more to harvest a crop this way, but 

 the results are much more satisfac- 

 tory as the loss from bruising is less, 

 which more than offsets the addi- 

 tional cost. 



Care must be exercised in picking 

 to use clippers that do not cut or in- 

 jure the fruit. The stems must be cut 



