HANDLING THE CITRUS CROP. 431 



dumped into the river. He guessed that Yankee would 

 not last long. 



"We did get more culls than we could sell in Palatka. 

 Selecting the best of them, we packed and shipped them 

 to parties in New York who were very pronounced in 

 their expressions of the opinion that the Florida oranges 

 would not stand transportation. They reached them in 

 good order and sold for satisfactory prices, and we con- 

 tinued to ship them during the winter. The house was 

 so much pleased with the result that they sent a man 

 down in the spring to negotiate for an interest in the 

 business. 



"The most of the oranges handled at Palatka were 

 pulled from the trees and as a consequence many of the 

 stems were pulled out and the skin broken, and besides, 

 many were bruised by rough handling, and had to be put 

 in the cull pile. We, therefore, concluded that in the 

 future we must buy the oranges on the trees, have the 

 stems cut, and provide for careful handling in the va- 

 rious stages of the work. This policy was inaugurated 

 for the next season's business, and as most of the fruit 

 came from the St. Johns and Ocklawaha Rivers, a pack- 

 ing house was built at San Mateo, as being the most con- 

 venient point for concentration. Contracts were made 

 for most of the oranges in sight, but the severe cold of 

 December 1, 1876, destroyed all the fruit north of Lake 

 Munroe, and we practically lost the season's business. In 

 1877-8 there was a considerable quantity of fruit. 



"Carrying out the policies outlined above we were 

 fairly successful and did a satisfactory business. 



"As our system required tight packages, we found 

 that the fruit must be held until the skin softened and 

 became flexible, for if packed when it was hard and crisp 



