260 Effective Farming 



Citrus fruits are kept in clean cultivation for a part of the 

 year and in cover-crops the remainder. The time of the year 

 when the land is tilled varies in the different sections. In 

 Florida the ground is usually kept tilled from late in the fall 

 until the beginning of the rainy season, which is about June 1. 

 In California the ground is plowed in the spring, about March, 

 and kept tilled until late fall, when a cover-crop is planted. 



148. Harvesting of fruit. Harvesting is a very important 

 part of fruit-growing. Each kind of fruit must be carefully 



FIG. 108. Sorting-table lined with canvas. 



handled, for bruised products will decay easily and quickly. 

 A good method is to handle fruits as if they were eggs. When 

 fruit comes out of storage, bruised spots show rotting quickly. 

 Large growers are fully aware of the value of careful handling 

 of fruit and many of them go so far as to require their pickers 

 to wear cotton gloves to prevent finger-nail scratches and other 

 wounds on the product. Picking receptacles should be lined 



