438 CITRUS FRUITS AND THEIR CULTURE. 



The strips used for strengthening the package m 

 Florida are usually made from the outside of birch and 

 are brought in from Maine. By some, strips of thin, 

 rounded cypress are used, but they are rather too brittle 

 to come into general favor. In a few instances the long 

 petioles of the leaves of the saw palmetto are used. They 

 must be used while green. 



Making Packages. It is essential that the boxes used 

 for shipping citrus fruits should be strong and well made. 

 The fruit is heavy, and the box must therefore be ca- 

 pable of standing a considerable amount of strain. Wire 

 nails should be used. All stained or discolored pieces 

 should be discarded, so that all boxes, when completed, 

 may be bright, clean and attractive. 



For making boxes a 

 table such as is illus- 

 trated in Fig. 93 A., may 

 be used. The cleats 

 tacked upon the top 

 should be about one 

 inch square and just 

 far enough apart to ad- 

 mit the ends and par- 

 tition. For making 

 Florida standard or- 

 ange boxes, with one- 

 inch heads, the distance 

 from center to center of 

 the groves between 

 the cleats should be ex- 

 actly thirteen inches. 



Figr. 92. Making crates. . . 



Variations in the thick 

 ness of the heads or the size of the compartments will 



