CALIFORNIA AVOCADO ASSOCIATION 



81 



1916, showed 1 1.61 per cent fat; those picked in January, 1917, showed 

 24 and 25 per cent, those in May and June from 26 to 30 per cent. 



According to Mr. J. M. Elliott, who interviewed Rivers Bros. & Co., 

 which purchased the bulk of the avocados blown from the trees last No- 

 vember, the fruits within three weeks or one month of maturity were not 

 damaged at all and under proper conditions ripened normally. These 

 proper conditions undoubtedly include a certain percentage of humidity as 

 well as warmth, since dry air will cause the fruit to shrivel, dry up, and be- 

 come leathery. Some persons have found that avocados ripen more uni- 

 formly and quickly if buried in bran or sawdust than in the open air. 



Maturity Standards For Other Fruits 

 Oranges 



Both in Florida and California there is a strong tendency to begin 

 shipping oranges and grapefruit early in the fall before the fruit is properly 

 matured. The incentive is the high price obtainable for anything that looks 

 like an orange at a season when the market is practically bare of oranges. 

 The Federal Pure Food Board decided in 1911 that sweated or arti- 

 ficially colored oranges were regarded as adulterated in the sense that in- 

 feriority was concealed, and therefore unsaleable unless plainly marked, 

 * 'Sweated.'* In 1913 the Florida Legislature passed the immature fruit 

 law forbidding the shipment of green fruit, between September 1 and No- 

 vember 5 of each year, which shows by test to contain in orange juice more 

 than 1.3 per cent of acid or in grapefruit juice more than 1.75 per cent of 

 acid. However, any fruit which showed on the tree or within 48 hours 

 after being picked, one-half yellow color, indicating ripeness, was consid- 

 ered mature and exempted from the acid test. This law was the first in 

 this country or in any country so far as I know, to hold fruit shippers to an 

 arbitrary maturity standard. 



Chemical investigations of oranges were made in California during the 

 fall of 1913 by agents of the U. S. Bureau of Chemistry and as a result 

 the Chief of the Bureau suggested to the Citrus Protective League that a 

 standard of eight parts of total solids to one part of acid in the juice be 

 adopted. The Tulare County Protective Association formed in 1914, 

 agreed to abide by this standard, the Exchange prescribed it for the "Sun- 

 kist'* brand, and several counties in central and southern California passed 

 ordinances prohibiting shipments of oranges falling below the standard. 

 The 8 to 1 standard was embodied in the Fresh Fruit Standardization 

 Law in 1917, with a * 'substantially colored'* clause added. The State 

 Horticultural Commissioner provided color charts to guide inspectors as to 

 the meaning of "substantially colored." The state law has recently been 

 amended so as to add a color standard of 25 per cent before picking in 

 addition to the eight to one standard. 



Grapes 



On account of the difficulty experienced over the shipments of table 

 grapes of varying degrees of ripeness a maturity standard for such fruit was 

 included in the Fresh Fruit Standardization Law, Section 8a reading as 

 follows: "Table grapes, when packed, shall be of practically uniform 

 quality and shall be well matured and show a sugar content of not less 



