SPRAYING TO CONTROL ENEMIES OP CITRUS TREES. 



13 



There seems to be an impression among consumers and retail 

 dealers that russet fruit is a variety of citrus instead of being the 

 result of the former presence of thousands of rust mites. The re- 

 sponsibility for this erroneous idea rests with the salesman. It is 

 considered good salesmanship to sell what goods there are on hand 

 and to convince the purchaser of the merits of the same. Since more 

 than half the crop is russet, some explanation must be made to the 

 consumer as to the quality of the fruit he purchases. The explana- 

 tion that russet fruit is a variety fulfills all the requirements of good 

 salesmanship. The necessity for this exercise of shrewd salesman- 

 ship, as well as its continuation, rests with the Florida citrus grower. 



One also hears frequently in Florida that russet fruit is sweeter 

 than bright. So far as is known, no analyses indicate that such is the 

 Since the russet fruit is not sold before the holidays, it has 



case. 



ample opportunity fully to ripen, so no russet fruit is ever sour. In 

 some tests made March 25, 1914, several russet and bright oranges 

 were peeled so that they could not be told apart by the taster. These 

 were given to a person to taste. In both cases where bright and 

 russet fruit were compared, the person pronounced that the bright 

 was the sweeter. On January 29, 1915, five men pronounced sprayed 

 fruit sweeter and possessed of a greater refinement and delicacy of 

 flavor than unsprayed fruit from adjoining rows. 



BETTER GRADES OF FRUIT BRING BETTER PRICES. 



Obviously it is useless to raise the grade of fruit if second and 

 third grade fruit sell for as much as the first grade. There is no 

 reason to spend money to make first-grade fruit unless the improved 

 fruit brings a good yield on the investment required to produce it. 



In order to show the difference in price received for different 



grades of fruit Tables 6 and 7 have been prepared. The data of 



Table 6 are based upon the returns from the 128,487 boxes of oranges 



and the 31,479 boxes of grapefruit, and these data are given in 



Table 1. 



Table 6. — Difference in the price received in the New York market for different 

 grades of oranges and grapefruit duryig the season of 1915-16. 



Month. 



Difference in price received between the grades of — 



Oranges. 



First 



and 



second 



grade. 



Second 



and 



third 



grade. 



Third 



and 



fourth 



grade. 



Fourth 

 and 

 fifth 



Total 

 differ- 

 ence. 



Grapefruit. 



First 



and 



second 



grade. 



Second 

 and 

 third 



Third Fourth 



and 

 fourth 



grade, grade. 



and 

 fifth 



Total 

 differ- 

 ence. 



November . 

 December- . 



January 



February . . 



March 



April 



50.39 

 .57 

 .23 

 .73 



1.36 



SO. 28 

 .08 

 .14 

 .14 



-.09 

 .14 



-SO. 01 

 .09 



-.00 

 .14 



-.16 

 .06 



SO. 39 

 .05 

 .37 

 .37 

 .49 

 .67 



SI. 08 



.79 



.74 



1.38 



1.59 



1.82 



SO. 66 

 .55 

 .37 

 .68 

 2.22 

 .00 



SO. 36 

 .57 

 .36 

 .25 

 .43 

 .18 



SO. 29 

 .26 

 .34 

 .25 

 .47 

 .17 



SO. 00 

 .00 

 .00 

 .03 

 .29 

 .25 



$1.30 

 1.36 

 1.08 

 1.21 



U.20 

 .60 



1 Difference between second and fifth grades; first grade is unusual sale. 



