CHAPTER XXXIX. 

 HANDLING THE CITRUS CROP. 



No portion of the history of citrus fruit culture is 

 more interesting than that which pertains to the evolu- 

 tion of our present systems of preparing the fruit for 

 market. When the first oranges were shipped to nearby 

 points from the Florida districts, boxes and barrels of 

 various sorts and sizes were used. The curing of the 

 fruit and its preparation for market were not understood 

 as they are now. As a natural result, heavy losses were 

 frequently suffered and many became disgusted with the 

 growing of citrus fruits. 



Mr. F. G. Sampson, of Boardman, Fla., under date of 

 August 2, 1903, has written the following interesting letter 

 to the author, giving his first experiences in marketing cit- 

 rus fruits. Many others went through much the same 

 trials before they discovered the secret of placing the fruit 

 on the market in inviting shape: 



"When we came to Florida in 1874, oranges were 

 poured into second-hand barrels, shaken down and headed 

 up and rather roughly handled all the way through. 

 After two or three years the supply of barrels was not 

 enough for the increasing crops, and boxes were brought 

 in from Maine. They were of different sizes and we 

 found a great deal of trouble in filling them, often hav- 

 ing to take the fruit out and repack so as to make the 

 box right on top. 



"I should think it was in '76 that Mr. E. Bean (who 

 lately died at Jacksonville) bought a number of crops of 

 oranges on Orange Lake at Citra, and he, with Messrs. 



