SHIPMENT OF OEANGES FKOM FLOEIDA. 29 



mold spores, the importance of having the fruit perfectly dry can not be too strongly 

 emphasized. Weather conditions in Florida are jyjactically never such that fruit 

 may be allowed to stand wet in the boxes for several days, although this practice 

 prevails to some extent in California. The wet conditions within the mass of fruit 

 renders ideal the conditions for the development of any mold, especially where the 

 packing-house premises are not strictly sanitary. Injured fruits handled in this 

 way frequently develop decay which has not advanced far enough to be detected 

 when the fruit passes over the grading belts and which might have been prevented 

 by prompt drying. Later drying or even icing in transit can not entirely arrest the 

 growth of the mold. 



In some districts the sun rack (PI. VII, fig. 2) is depended upon for drying the fruit, 

 and with favorable weather conditions this method is as effective as tlae use of many 

 of the so-called artificial-drying machines. The chief objection to this rack is that 

 frequently sufficient space for its proper construction is not available, and it is there- 

 fore not made large enough to accommodate all of the fruit or to insure perfect drying. 

 Moreover, the handling of the fruit on this rack is often very rough and conducive to 

 severe injury, unprotected, brooms or wooden implements being generally used to 

 dislodge the fruit or to spread it over the rack as it comes from the washing machine. 

 Another point of injury is where the fruit is allowed to run off the bottom of the rack 

 into the field boxes, from which it is again emptied into a hopper leading to the grading 

 machine . These various operations and the more or less rough type of handling greatly 

 multiply the chances for injury and increase the liability of blue-mold infection. 



The drying of fruit in Florida is difficult at best, and the artificial drier seems to be 

 an ultimate necessity, at least from the standpoint of thorough work and careful 

 handling. Frequently weather conditions are such that complete drying is practically 

 impossible unless some artificial method is devised to evaporate the water from the 

 surface of the fruit. A properly constructed drying machine can be adjusted so as to 

 carry the fruit continuously from the washing machine to the grading belts, without 

 drops, gravity runs, elevators, or even the use of the human hand. A machine which 

 can thus be adjusted to carry on the work with proper care is more reliable than are 

 workmen of the type usually employed in a packing house. 



The artificial drying of fruits is still in the experimental stage in Florida, and a machine 

 which will prove wholly satisfactory under all conditions has not yet been devised. 

 All the types of mechanical driers have yielded good results under favorable weather 

 conditions, and all have given more or less trouble on cloudy days or at any time 

 when the humidity was very high. 



In the most effective driers now in use, an air blast is circulated around the fruit 

 in such a way that the moistiu-e is more or less completely removed. The intro- 

 duction of artificial heat or some other means of drying the circulating air will greatly 

 improve the character of the work and will materially lessen the distance over which 

 the fruit must travel. Other things being equal, the more promptly the drying can 

 be accomplished the less chance there will be for the development of blue mold. 



PACKING AND SHIPPING EXPERIMENTS. 

 EXPERIMENTAL CONSIGNMENTS DURING TWO SEASONS. 



During the seasons of 1910-11 and 1911-12 comprehensive series of shipping experi- 

 ments were made in order to demonstrate the application of the results of the packing- 

 house tests made diu-ing previous years. More than 90 experimental shipments 

 of oranges were roade from Florida in 1910-11, and 65 shipments were sent out in the 

 coiuse of the work during 1911-12. These consignments were composed of fruit 

 from practically every orange-growing district in the State, including the Manatee 

 River district, the Pinellas Peninsula, and the Hillsboro County sections on the 

 west coast; the groves extending from Fort Myers to De Land in the interior; and 



