SHIPMENT OF ORANGES FEOM FLORIDA. 47 



means of careful handling. The results of this investigation into the nature of the 

 fungus, its manner of growth, and its development have been published by the Florida 

 experiment station.' 



SUMMARY. 



The orange crop of Florida averages 4,000,000 or 5,000,000 boxes per year, and it 

 has been estimated that, reckoning the good with the bad years, probably 10 per 

 cent of the fruit decays before reaching the consumer. This entails an annual finan- 

 cial loss of at least half a million dollars. By far the most common form of decay is 

 that caused by the growth of the blue-mold fungus within the tissues of the fruit, 

 entrance being obtained only tlxrough some mechanical injury to the skin. The 

 first researches of the Bureau of Plant Industry indicated that, owing to improper 

 equipment in grove and packing house as well as to the carelessness of pickers and 

 packers and their ignorance of the essential factors of good handling, considerable 

 injury was being inflicted on the fruit in the course of its preparation for shipment. 

 Most serious of all are the injuries inflicted by the clippers in severing the fruit from 

 the tree and the punctures caused by the presence of long stems on the oranges. 

 Many bruises or abrasions, especially those caused by dropping the fruit, can not 

 be detected by packers and develop heavy decay in transit. 



In most sections of the State cleaning the fruit has become a necessity, owing to the 

 wide distribution of the citrus white fly and the development of the sooty-mold 

 fungus which follows in the wake of that pest. At present probably 75 per cent of 

 the Florida orange crop is cleaned either by washing or by the sawdust method. The 

 Department investigations show that decay in transit or on the market is largely due 

 to injuries received or aggravated during washing and drying and that these opera- 

 tions may be conducted in such a way that little or no harm ensues or may be fol- 

 lowed by serious deterioration. The experiments of the Bureau of Plant Industry 

 during the past seven years prove conclusively that the condition of the fruit after 

 arrival in market depends largely upon the character of the work done in the grove 

 and the packing house; that it is possible to so conduct the operations of picking, 

 packing, and shipping as to inflict a minimum of mechanical injuries; and that unin- 

 jured Florida oranges can be placed on the market in practically sound condition 

 even in seasons of very high decay. Practically all loss from blue-mold decay, such as 

 has occurred in the past, can be eliminated. 



The sizes of Florida oranges vary from 80 to 420 fruits in a box, the most common 

 sizes being 126, 150, 176, and 200 to a box. The Florida shipping box measures 12 

 by 12 by 27 inches, inside dimensions, and has an estimated weight of 80 pounds 

 when filled. The average shipment per car totals 321 boxes, loaded 2 tiers high. A 

 standard shipping car is 33 feet long, 8 feet wide, and 84 J inches high; the minimum 

 freight weight of a standard car of 300 boxes is 24,000 pounds. The average freight 

 rate on citrus fruits from Florida during 1912-13 was 65.7 cents per box of 80 pounds 

 weight. 



During the past five years the Florida citrus industry has been reorganized and the 

 changes have greatly improved the handling of the fruit. At the time the Depart- 

 ment investigations were begun the methods of preparing oranges for shipment were 

 extremely crude; there was no uniformity of system and the equipment was wholly 

 inadequate to the needs of the industry. Of late years the old type of packing house 

 has almost entirely disappeared. Modern houses, equipped with the newest machin- 

 ery for handling fruit properly, have been constructed in practically every citrus 

 district in the State, so that the industry is now well provided with the mechanical 

 appliances for doing good work. Further reforms will include improvement of field 

 equipment and more careful attention to the details of picking and to the organization 



1 Fawcett, H. S Stem-end rot of citrus fruits. Florida Agricultural Experiment Station, Bulletin 106. 



