212 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-THIRD FRUIT-GROWERS 7 CONVENTION. 



by gravel in the boxes, etc. This condition was found in all the orange- 

 producing sections. In some orchards more, in some less, but there 

 were no entire exceptions. 



It was a matter of no little humiliation to some of us who had 

 prided ourselves in knowing something about oranges and their careful 

 handling. But there was no gainsaying the facts. Mr. Powell would 

 take the doubter to his own orchard and have him examine the work 

 of the pickers for himself, calling attention to the damages which had 

 heretofore escaped him. Most of them slight, it is true, but sufficient 

 to leave the fruit vulnerable to the deadly fungi. To be absolutely 

 sure of this, Mr. Powell would select, from the same lot of fruit, enough 

 of the damaged to fill several boxes, and of the apparently undamaged 

 to fill other boxes, place them for two weeks subject to the same con- 

 ditions of heat and moisture as they might be subject to in a close car. 

 On examination, every fruit in the boxes damaged would be found in 

 some state of decay. In the case of the uninjured, there might be 

 here and there a decayed fruit, but in every instance on close examina- 

 tion the decay would be found centered around a mechanically dam- 

 aged point so obscure that it was overlooked when put in. The balance 

 of the fruit would be found as sound as when put in the box. 



Growers who carefully watched this investigation were amazed to 

 see how quickly and easily Mr. Powell demonstrated these simple facts 

 of such tremendous importance to our industry. 



Here, then, was the key to a cause sufficient in itself to account for 

 an annual loss of from five to twenty-five per cent of the value of all 

 the fruit we sent to the markets, which had largely escaped our atten- 

 tion. The matter was now up to the grower. Was it practicable to 

 gather and deliver this fruit undamaged? As to this, opinions differed. 

 Many were doubtful whether the old methods and practices could be 

 materially modified in any large way. Some of our more enterprising 

 growers, who packed their own fruit and had followed the experiments 

 and demonstrations closely, took this matter up seriously, and insisted 

 on careful methods from the orchard to the packing-house. On care- 

 ful tests it was quickly found that radical improvement was being made 

 by such. From orchards where an average of ten to thirty and more 

 per cent of damaged fruit had been found, the injured was reduced to 

 two or three per cent, and in some cases to less than one per cent. A 

 remarkable change. These more careful methods cost something. 

 Piece work in picking was changed to day work, and the persistently 

 careless dismissed. The expense of picking and handling to those who 

 succeeded in practically eliminating injured fruits was materially 

 increased, some reporting it to be doubled, but a cent or two a box was 

 but a slight fraction of the gain. 



xMr. Powell now turned his attention to^the effect of cleansing, sort- 



