BULLETIN 



Contribution from the Bureau of Plant Industry, Wm. A. Taylor, Chief. 

 March 28, 1914. 



FACTORS GOVERNING THE SUCCESSFUL SHIP- 

 MENT OF ORANGES FROM FLORIDA.^ 



By A. V. Stubenrauch, Pomologist and Horticulturist, H. J. Ramsey, Pomologist in 

 Charge of Fruit Transportation and Storage Investigations, and Lloyd S. Tenny, 

 formerly Pomologist in Fruit- Transportation Investigations; assisted by A. W. 

 McKay, B. B. Pratt, C. S. Pomeroy, K. B. Lewis, G. M. Darrow, Margaret 

 Connor, and J. F. Fernald, of the Office of Horticultural and Pomological Inves- 

 tigations. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The citrus-fruit industry of Florida is preeminently first among the agricultural and 

 business interests of the State. According to the figures of the last United States 

 census there were 3,864,514 orange trees in the State in the spring of 1910, 2,766,618 of 

 these being of bearing age and 1,097,896 nonbearing. The yield of the 1909 orange 

 crop, as given by the census of 1910, was 4,852,967 boxes, valued at $4,304,987. From 

 the best sources obtainable at the present time,^ the citrus crop of Florida during the 

 season of 1912-13 amounted to 28,428 carloads, or 8,125,465 boxes, of which approxi- 

 mately 5,769,079 boxes, or 71 per cent, were oranges; approximately 2,031,367 boxes, 

 or 25 per cent, were grapefruit; the balance, of approximately 325,019 boxes, or 4 per 

 cent, being tangerines, kumquats, and limes. 



During the winter of 1894-95 there occurred in Florida two very severe freezes, which 

 wrought great havoc in the groves of the State and permanently changed the character 

 of the citrus industry. Present conditions date from that season to a great extent. 

 According to Hume ^ there were 5,055,367 boxes in the crop of 1893-94, and the output 

 for the following year would doubtless have reached 6,000,000 boxes. Exceptionally 

 low temperatures, interspersed with periods of warm, growing weather, proved fatal, 

 however, and a large number of trees were either killed outright or had practically all 

 of their bearing wood destroyed. Instead of 6,000,000 boxes, the crop of 1894-95 was 

 reducedto75,000, as a consequence. Itwillbeseen, therefore, that so far as production 

 is concerned, the Florida citrus industry is now just regaining the position which it 

 held at the time of the freeze of 1895. 



LOCATION OF THE FLORIDA CITRUS INDUSTRY. 



Previous to the freeze of 1895 the citrus indiistry of Florida was largely centered in 

 Lake, Orange, and Marion Counties. After the destruction or serious damage to a large 

 number of the best groves in these sections some of the owners became discouraged and 



1 Report on harvesting, handling, and shipping experiments made on a commercial scale through seven 

 shipping years, showing that decay can be materially lessened by greater care and the avoidance of 

 mechanical injury to the fruit. 



2 These figures were furnished by the Flotida Citrus Exchange. 



3 Hume, H. Harold. Citrus Fruits and Their Culture. Jacksonville, Fla., 1904, p. 4. 



23103°— Bull. 63—14 1 1 



