THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS ' COX^'EXTIOX. 



61 



fruit to a higher class. This has not been accomplished by the eliniina- 

 tion of the mechanical injury of the fruit alone, but by the adoption of 

 better methods of labor handling, of picking:, of hauling the fruit to 

 the packing house, of packing-house equipment and manag:ement, and of 

 grading and packing the fruit. It may be worth while to illustrate a 

 specific^ reform of this kind that was brought about in 1908. 



For several years the representatives of the Bureau of Plant Industry 

 have observed* a larg:e amount of decay in the fruit of an association 

 within 40 miles of the coast. This community, like several others, 

 acquired the reputation of producing fruit of poor shipping Cjuality. 

 The growers themselves, and the marketing agrency. were convinced that 

 the trouble lay in the conditions under which the fruit was produced. 

 It was thouirht that the soil was too rich: that the oranges were too 

 "fat." Ten, twenty, or thirty per cent of decay was not unusual in the 

 cars of oranges from this association in 1907. The conditions surround- 

 ing the association were investigated by representatives of the Bureau 

 . f Plant Industry in 1907. The fruit was picked by the box by the 

 growers. It varied in condition, showing from five to thirty per cent of 

 luechanical injury. The hauling was badly done. The packing: house 

 was complicated with overhead sizers, a steep gravity gracling-table, 

 deep bins, a steep narrow hopper, and a poor arrangement in general. 

 The house was littered with rotten oranges. They were under the hopper 

 and the bins, and could be found in many out-of-the-way places. The 

 culls were dumped neai- the house, and the wind blowing on them 

 kept it lilled with myriads of blue-mold spores. A large proportion of 

 the fruit had to be washed. The shortage of cars kept the house filled 

 with fruit both packed and unpacked. While the commercially handled 

 fruit of this house was decaying in transit, the carefully handled 

 t ranges in the experiments of the Bureau of Plant Industry showed 

 no more decay in 1907 than well-handled fruit from other sections of 

 the State. 



This association was reorganized in 1908. A new manager was 

 secured. The fruit has been picked by the day. by labor controlled by 

 the association. The packing house has been remodeled, and is in fair 

 condition. An effort has been made to handle the fruit carefully in the 

 packing house, and it has been shipped quickly after picking. As a 

 result, the fruit has arrived in market practically free from decay 

 during 1908. In fact, there has been less decay in the fruit of this 

 house than in the oranges in a few associations located in sections that 

 are generally thought to produce the best carrying fruit in the State, 

 but wiiich have made no special effort to handle the fruit carefully. The 

 experience of this association has been paralleled by several others in 

 the coast region in 1908. It is another demonstration that there is not 

 so much inherent difference in the carrying quality of oranges of dif- 

 ferent sections, but that the character of the business manaoement and 

 the care with which the fruit is handled are large factors in determining 

 the sort of reputation the oranges of a community shall acquire. 



CONTRAST BETWEEN TWO GROWERS EQUALLY V^T]LL LOCATED. 



There are some growers or shippers in California who have either 

 given the matter little consideration, or who prefer to doubt either the 

 necessity or practicability of handling the orange crop economically on 



