HANDLING THE CITRUS CROP. 429 



"It might interest your readers to know why the 

 12x12x27 box was decided upon. 



"Before coming South I canvassed the cities of Buf- 

 falo, Rochester, Syracuse, Utica, Albany and New York, 

 soliciting orders for Florida oranges. I found that the 

 few that had reached those markets were packed in soap 

 boxes, meat boxes, dry-goods boxes and old flour barrels, 

 unwrapped and arriving in very bad order. I secured 

 a few small orders in Buffalo and Rochester, but could 

 not sell an orange in New York, although I canvassed 

 faithfully. I was met in every case with the statement 

 that the oranges were no good, that they would not bear 

 transportation. They jeered me when I said that I was 

 going down to engage in the business of handling them. 

 One prominent dealer said that he thought that I would 

 simply illustrate the proverb that a fool and his money 

 would soon part company. In the course of the canvass 

 I was seeking information, not only as to the best pack- 

 age to use, but also to learn all that I could about the 

 manipulation of oranges in older countries. I called on 

 several Italian packers, who kindly gave me a full de- 

 scription of their methods of handling and packing and 

 showed me photographs of their packing houses. From 

 all the information that I could gather I reached the con- 

 clusion that a square box that would give a multiple of 

 3 inches would be the best. After reaching here and 

 conferring with Mr. Bishop, going into a storehouse where 

 there was a quantity of loose oranges, piling them up, 

 comparing the 12x12 space with the 10x14 of the foreign 

 box, we decided that the 12x12 was far preferable and 

 that size Avas agreed upon. 



"I might add in conclusion that the results of my 

 shipments from Palatka during the winter 1875-6 were 



