18 BULLETIN 63, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTUEE. 



packing house that makes up careful handling, and both grower and packer are con- 

 cerned in knowing how they are caused and how they may be eliminated. 



At the time the department investigations were started the methods of handling 

 Florida citrus fruits for shipment were extremely crude. Growers did their own 

 picking, there was no uniformity of system, and the work was performed only indif- 

 ferently well . These statements ai-e not meant to reflect in any way upon the standing 

 of the industry or to criticize the individuals who were concerned with the preparation 

 of the fruit for mai-ket. Practically all of the imperfections were due to a lack of 

 knowledge on the pai-t of the growers and shippers and not to their desire to slight any 

 of the important work. No one realized the effects of injiu"y to the fruit, and few, 

 if any, believed that injury was being inflicted. Growers and packers frequently 

 greeted the department workers with the statement that practically no injiu'y was 

 being done to their fi'uit, whereas later examination often showed 15 or 20 per cent of 

 their oranges to be injured in some way. The scattered natui'e of the industry was 

 largely responsible for the crudeness with which the work was carried on. The old 

 neighborhood competition in the production of high-grade, attractive fruit disap- 

 peared after the freeze, when the plantings were distributed so widely over central 

 and southern Florida. Groves were more or less isolated, and a grower was frequently 

 wholly ignorant of the type of work being done by other producers of citrus fruits. 



"RTien the department investigations were begun it seemed almost hopeless to expect 

 that the results of the work could be made effective. The importance of getting in 

 touch with every grower and shipper Avas realized from the start, yet without some 

 central organization through which these individuals could be reached it seemed 

 impossible to expect that improvements in the methods of handling could be 

 inaugurated. 



The changes which have taken place in. Florida during the past five years are truly 

 remarkable. The old type of packing house has almost- enthely disappeared (PI. X, 

 figs. 1 and 2) . Modern houses, equipped with the newest machinery for handling fruit 

 properly, have been constructed in practically every citrus district in the State (Pis. 

 XI and XII), so that at the present time the industry is particularly well provided with 

 the mechanical appliances for doing good work. Plate XIV shows two views of clean, 

 well-lighted, modern packing-house interiors as contrasted with the dark and crowded 

 rooms of the old houses (PI. XIII). The attitude of the growers and packers has 

 changed more, slowly, however. The department has conducted a large number of 

 field demonstrations in. order to educate pickers to the necessity of careful work, and 

 although much has been accomplished in this line, as is shown by the tabulated 

 figures given later on, much still remains to be done. The introduction of better hand- 

 ling methods is largely a business problem. It has to do with the reorganization of the 

 forces of workmen and with the method of paying them rather than with the discovery 

 of the cause of a particular form of decay. 



In California the occurrence of injury in preparing the fruit for shipment was asso- 

 ciated with the way in which the work was done. The pickers were paid by the box, 

 and naturally each man was ambitious to pick as many boxes as possible during the 

 day, irrespective of the character of his work. A premium was thus placed on rough 

 handling. Several large companies, employing hundreds of men, demonstrated that 

 by changing from the box-payment to the day-payment plan and by insisting upon 

 careful work they could practically eliminate all picking injuries. A change in the 

 plan of payment is not, in itself, sufficient to bring about better work, however; the 

 workmen must be properly organized and supervised, and each individual picker must 

 be held responsible for the character of his work. In California a change from the 

 individual grower doing his own picking to the plan of association picking crews 

 resulted in very great improvement in the character of the work. The same plan has 

 more recently been carried out in Florida with very beneficial results. 



