450 CITRUS FRUITS AND THEIR CULTURE. 



strip, his weight presses the head down, whereupon it is 

 nailed in place. 



Any man of ordinary ingenuity can readily make a 

 simple press of some description to press the heads into 

 place. They may not be so good as those described above, 

 but will be just as efficient. 



Packing and Shipping Don'ts. Every separate step 

 in preparing the fruit for market should increase its value 

 by at least the cost of the labor expended and the ma- 

 terials used. But, strange to say, the money value of the 

 crop is frequently greater as it hangs on the trees than it 

 is after it has been gathered, and made ready for market. 

 In many cases the actual worth of the fruit is decreased 

 at every separate step in the process of preparing it for 

 market. The value is, too often, lessened by careless hand- 

 ling, by unbusinesslike methods. 



The author has had the opportunity on a number of 

 different occasions of examining citrus fruits in the mar- 

 ket, and has seen boxes of fruit showing proof of many of 

 the practices condemned in the following suggestions: 



Never place 'bright and russet fruit in the same box. 



Do not pack inferior grades of fruit and stencil it 

 fancy. No one is deceived thereby and the shipper loses 

 in the end. 



Do not pack different sizes in the same box. 



Do not wrap oranges with three or four pieces of 

 paper to bring them up to size. 



Do not pack fruit until it has been properly sized. 



Do not pack and ship uncured fruit. 



Do not pack slack boxes. The buyer is honestly en- 

 titled to a full box of fruit. 



Do not stencil packages falsely. For instance, do not 

 mark 200 on a box containing 150 fruits. 



