476 



RECREATION. 



from the stem, 3 or 4 oranges being re- 

 ceived by the left hand at a time. Before 

 placing the oranges in the basket, the por- 

 tion of stem remaining on the fruit is cut 

 close ; boys with baskets slung from their 

 shoulders being employed to climb for the 

 fruit beyond the reach of the men. When 

 20 or 30 baskets are filled, the cart comes 

 along and carries them off to the packing 

 houses ; the first layer of baskets being 

 placed in a swinging shelf underneath the 

 cart, the second on the bottom, and the 

 third on a layer of boards forming an up- 

 per tier, so that little or no pressure is 

 put on the oranges. Mules and horses 

 are utilized for reaching portions of the 

 orchard inaccessible to carts. They carry 

 about 6 or 8 baskets on wooden crates 

 slung across the backs of the animals, 

 and on arrival at the packing house 

 the fruit is emptied on the floor to the 

 depth of not more than 12 to 18 inches; 

 sand and straw being frequently distrib- 

 uted to receive at. A typical packing 

 house, in Spain, has a floor space of about 

 70 by 120 feet, to evade the necessity for 

 shelves in laying out the fruit ; the shelf 

 system being deprecated by the packers as 

 causing unnecessary handling of the fruit, 

 and being less accessible to the sorter. 

 There are no sizing machines in use, as 

 they save nothing in time and labor. Each 

 orange is individually culled, with or with- 

 out them ; but the Spanish women are ex- 

 perts at this business. 



"The buildings are divided into 4 de- 

 partments, namely, sorting, wrapping, box 

 making and packing. The sorting is the 

 most important portion of the work, and 

 is generally accomplished by elderly women 

 of long experience. The oranges are so 

 assorted that damaged or imperfect fruit, 

 or fruit with a blemish, such as a worm- 

 hole or a depression from contact with a 

 branch while growing, or fruit which for 

 any other reason the sorters may consider 

 unfit for shipment, may be laid aside. Un- 

 der this head 20 per cent, of the harvest 

 is rejected, and finds its way to local mar- 

 kets. Much care and study have been be- 

 stowed on the classification of the oranges ; 

 for we find that they are packed into 

 boxes of some 7 different sizes. 



"Between the sorters and the packers 

 are the wrappers, sitting in groups around 

 heaps of the fruit, each heap of a certain 

 class, supplied by the men who take them 

 from the sorters. Here again the oranges 

 are subject to further inspection, and blem- 

 ished fruit which may have escaped the 

 scrutiny of the sorters is thrown aside. 

 No oranges are shipped from Spain which 

 do not bear on each end of the case a sten- 

 cilled trademark, or brand, of the packer; 

 also number of oranges contained in the 

 box. The brand also indicates whether 



the fruit is of good quality, or finest or 

 superior quality. The wrapper has a pile 

 of cut papers in her lap, and, dextrously 

 placing an orange at one end, she rolls it 

 from her, gathering the ends in a tight 

 twist at each side, which holds the paper 

 in place prettily and perfectly. An ordi- 

 nary hand can do 20 to 25 a minute. The 

 wrapping paper is of a fine, soft, silky 

 quality, made in Spain. The cost there for 

 enough to wrap an average of 240 boxes is 

 80 pesetas, or about $10, according to rate 

 of exchange ; stamping, 20 pesetas, or near- 

 ly $5. The wrapped fruit is then carried 

 to that portion of the house where the 

 oranges are packed in their respective boxes 

 according to size and class. 



"The packing is done by girls, 2 of them 

 putting up a box of 714 in 15 minutes and 

 a box of 420 in 10 minutes. When the box 

 of oranges is packed ready for the lid, it 

 appears much too full, the top layer be- 

 ing nearly half their thickness above the 

 level of the box edge. 



"When the carpenter has finished nailing 

 on the cover, small boys come along with 

 strips of rawhide and nail them around 

 each end in place of hoops. Finally the 

 box is handed over to men who dex- 

 trously and firmly bind each round and 

 round with some 10 or 12 yards of cord 

 plaited from esparto grass. The boxes are 

 then carried to the grao, or beach, where 

 they are loaded on surf boats and conveyed 

 to the steamers lying at anchor in the 

 roads some half a mile away." 



WATER IN BUTTER. 



The average quantity of water contained 

 in American butter has been calculated as 

 about 12 per cent. The quantity of this 

 constituent, however, is variable, depend- 

 ing on a number of conditions, some of 

 which have been recently investigated. 



In a study of the effect of salt on the 

 water content of butter, chemical analyses 

 showed that the salted and unsalted butter, 

 in lots worked once, contained respec- 

 tively 12.74 and 15.12 per cent, of water. 

 In lots worked twice, the salted but- 

 ter contained 10.53, an d the unsalted butter 

 T 4-33 per cent, of water. The unsalted 

 butter always had a dry appearance, but in 

 every comparison it was found to contain 

 more water than the salted butter. In this 

 case it made a difference of about 3 per 

 cent in the water content of the butter. 



The effect of the size of the butter gran- 

 ules on the quantity of water in butter 

 was also studied. About 300 pounds of 

 ripened cream was divided into 2 lots, one 

 of which was churned in a box churn until 

 the butter granules were about the size 

 of clover seed, while the other lot was 

 churned in a combined churn and worker 

 until the butter granules were about the 



