SHIPMENT OF ORANGES FROM FLORIDA. 



PICKING THE FRUIT. 



Harvesting methods. — In harvesting the orange, it is necessary to sever the fruit from 

 the trees by means of clippers or shears, the common type being a sharp-pointed 

 clipper, such as is illustrated on the left in figure 2. Various other types are also in 

 use at the present time, two of which are shown in figiu:e 2. 



Since many of the orange trees in Florida are large, only a small proportion of the 

 fruit can be reached from the ground. The ordinary straight ladder, placed directly 

 against the tree, is in common use. In order to secure all of the fruit at the top or in 

 the center of the tree, the picker must stretch over a considerable distance, and he is 

 very liable to pull many of the oranges which he can not conveniently sever with his 

 cUppers. Worse than this, however, it has not been uncommon to see the fruit on 

 the ends of the limbs shaken off and allowed to drop to the ground, later to be picked 

 up and placed in the field boxes along with the fruit properly handled. 



Over the picker's shoulder is thrown a basket or bag in which the fruit is placed as 

 clipped. The picking bag is sometimes an ordinary grain bag or gunny sack holding 

 about 30 pounds of fruit; formerly, some men used a specially constructed bag which 

 fastened around the body and frequently held nearly enough fruit to fill one of the 

 boxes. The canvas-covered basket shown in Plate I, figure 1, holds approximately 

 half of a box of fruit. Another type of picking receptacle, illustrated in Plate I, 

 figure 2, has a hinged bot- 

 tom which may be let down 

 when ernptying the fruit. 

 The most common bag now 

 in use is one made of heavy 

 canvas and open at the bot- 

 tom, so that the filled bag 

 can be placed in the box 

 and the fruit allowed to roll 

 out gently. 



Field hoxes.^TYiQ fruit is 

 poured from the picking re- 

 ceptacle into a field crate 

 or box. The box in gen- 

 eral use is about 28 inches 

 long, 12 inches wide, and 

 13| inches deep, has a capacity of a little more than one packed box of fruit, and may 

 or may not have a central partition. B oth types are illustrated in Plate I , figures 1 and 

 2. The size of this box was established through the practice of buying large quantities 

 of fruit on the tree at a fixed price per box. Originally tliia price was intended to be 

 per ' ' packed box, " but since it is more convenient to keep the record of the fruit as it 

 leaves the grove, this type of field box, which holds enough fruit to allow culling and 

 still give the buyer a packed box of oranges, was developed. Other kinds of field boxes, 

 some of which are superior to the old box, are in use to a limited extent. Plate II, 

 figure 1, shows a type of grocer's delivery crate which some growers use for handling 

 their oranges. 



The boxes in common use are constructed of such heavy material and hold such larg« 

 quantities of fruit that it is impossible to handle tliem with sufficient care. When 

 loading them on the field wagon or unloading them at the packing house, or even 

 when moving them about in the house, they oftentimes strike the floor with sufficient 

 force to cause some of the fruit to bound out. The objection commonly raised to 

 making boxes of lighter material is that the workmen will break them by rough han- 

 dling, especially when throwing them off the wagon in the field. It is a question, 

 however, whether the average laborer will not treat a lighter box more carefully than 

 lie will a heavy iron-bound one, which tempts him to see how roughly he can handle it. 



Fig. 2. — Three types of clippers used in picking Florida citrus fruits. 



