HANDLING THE CITRUS CROP. 



423 



"(4) Why ship them East when they can be held 

 here as long as it is necessary? 



"But we do not want to hold all of our lemons. What 

 we should do is to have them more evenly distributed 

 throughout the year and to sell them when we can get a 

 fair price, and be able to hold them when we cannot. If 

 we can do this, and I think we can; and if we will strive 

 to pick our lemons carefully and at the proper time; 

 handle them carefully all of the time; put up an honest, 

 well-graded pack : if we will do these things, good mar- 

 ket conditions are sure to follow, and we will all find 

 our lemon groves profitable." 



GRADING. 



No part of the 

 process of prepar- 

 ing is more im- 

 portant than the 

 grading. Seldom 

 is the fruit fit for 

 market without it, 

 and were it 

 shipped without 

 grading, serious 

 losses would fre- 

 quently result. The grade of a package is usually established 

 in the market by the poorer specimens. A box of oranges 

 might contain seventy-five good fruits, but if it contained 

 seventy-five, or even fewer, poor specimens, it would cer- 

 tainly be graded and sold on the market as an inferior 

 package. 



It does not pay to ship poor fruit. One or two poor 

 specimens in a box injures the appearance of the whole 



Fig. 90 The Huntley sizer 



