HANDLING THE CITRUS CROP. 



If the fruit is bruised or bumped when the cells of 

 the rind are congested, it is very injurious to its keeping 

 quality. In fact it would be very difficult to put it 

 through the processes of grading, sizing and packing with- 

 out doing serious damage to the fruit. In packing, it is 

 always advisable to have the fruit a half inch or so above 

 the edges of the box before putting the head or cover 

 on it. The cover is pressed down in a header or press 

 and considerable pressure is necessary. The writer has 

 stood in packing houses and seen the heads put on boxes 

 of uncured fruit with such force as to burst the rinds 

 of the fruit and send the juice spurting in tiny streams 

 through the cracks in the box or trickling down the sides. 

 Such practice is ruinous to the keeping quality of the 

 fruit and to the trade. 



Citrus fruits should not be packed without curing. 

 Late in the season there may be occasional exceptions. 

 In the process of curing, the rind decreases in thickness, 

 parts with much of its moisture, becomes tough and 

 leathery, and adheres closely to the pulp ball. When thor- 

 oughly cured, the fruit may be squeezed out of shape and 

 properly packed without bursting the rind. Fig. 88 shows 

 a cross-section of a well-cured pomelo, while Plate X^XVII 

 illustrates the difference in thickness between a cured and 

 an uncured lemon. Note how the rind of the pomelo is 

 indented and bent from its former spherical shape. Its 

 ability to withstand injury has been materially increased, 

 and so in the curing of all citrus fruits. 



The loss of the moisture from the rind is another 

 important item. If packed fresh from the trees the mois- 

 ture leaves the fruit after packing, and the damp, wet con- 

 dition in the box is particularly favorable to the devel- 

 opment of decay. In the process of curing, all slight im- 



