402 CITRUS FRUITS AND THEIR CULTURE. 



Harris and Bishop I think they were the chief ones 

 decided that the square box, 12x12x27, was the most con- 

 venient size. They figured up the size of orange for each 

 pack and practically the present style of packing and 

 number per box as generally packed now. We sized the 

 fruit by holes cut in a piece of thin wood, handling each 

 orange and placing it in the box, but Mr. H. B. Stevens, 

 then with Bishop & Co. (now manager for J. B. Stetson, 

 DeLand), got up a sizer which did much better work and 

 saved an immense amount of labor. 



"It was the second year of our shipping that we got 

 a bit of experience which showed us the need of careful 

 handling. Our fruit had to be hauled twenty miles to the 

 railroad and the time those railroads made was very slow, 

 so that, although our crops were being sold in South Caro- 

 lina, we often had complaints of rot. We had a visitor 

 who urged us to ship a few barrels to a friend of his in 

 the commission business in New York, and we made a 

 shipment of six barrels. The reports said that half were 

 rotten. The remainder sold for f 11.00 per barrel for the 

 three barrels of sound fruit. Before we got those re- 

 turns six barrels more were on the way. That trip the 

 steamer picked up a disabled steamer and, bringing her 

 back to port, made a very long passage for our fruit. The 

 report came 'seventy sound oranges only. Please remit 

 balance on freight. 7 That seemed to settle the matter, as 

 a neighbor said, 'It is as I told you, you can't ship oranges 

 to New York/ and told of his experience the year before. 



"I was not satisfied, however, that fruit which would 

 remain sound on the trees for months could not be put 

 in New York sound. I knew the fruit was not being 

 handled decently anyhow, so I said I would make one 

 more shipment. Captain Keep said he wanted to join in, 



