THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS ' CON\^ENTION. 



63 



showii the following amount of mechanical injury at different inspec- 

 tions. The injuries are very slight in nature, and are usually caused 

 by gravel punctures and body bruises of various kinds : 4.3, 1.9, 1.6, 2.4, 

 61, 4.0, 2.3, 9.6 per cent. This fruit is picked by a gang of thirty to 

 forty Mexicans, under the direction of one foreman. It is interesting 

 to note that the injury of 9.6 per cent was due to pushing the labor 

 beyond the capacity for careful work during warm weather, when the 

 fruit was dropping badly. This corporation has not had a serious 

 amount of decay in a car of oranges since the careful handling methods 

 were adopted in 1906, though previous to that time a decay of 10 to 20 

 per cent was not unusual. 



The fruit of another shipper, which was rotting badly, and which 

 acquired a famous reputation during the middle of the season of 1907, 

 following a reorganization of the methods of picking and packing, has 

 shown the following amount of injury in 190S : 4.0, 3.9, 5.9, 5.2, 14.0 

 per cent. The injury in the last inspection was largely body bruises, 

 resulting from nails in the picking boxes, and from a lack of temporary 

 supervision of the labor. The fruit of this shipper has show^n practi- 

 cally no decay since the better handling methods were adopted in 1907. 



The fruit of another grower, who adopted the most rigid system of 

 careful handling in 1908, paying the labor by the day, checking the 

 work of each picker by an inspector in the packing house, and using 

 care in every operation, has been practically sound throughout the 

 season. In many of the inspections there has been less than 1 per 

 cent of mechanically injured oranges, and seldom over 2 per cent. The 

 fruit of this grower has been packed with great care. It has a com- 

 manding place in the markets, and has arrived practically sound 

 throughout the season. 



As an indication of the work that can be done by an association, the 

 following injury data are taken from several inspections during 1908. 

 There are one hundred members in this association. The fruit is picked 

 by two gangs of labor, under the control of the packing house:. 3. 3, 5.9, 

 3.2. 6.6 per cent. 



The injury data following are taken from several inspections of the 

 fruit of an association ha\'ing several hundred members. The fruit of 

 this association, when picked by the growers, often showed 30 per cent 

 of mechanical injury. In 1908 it has been picked under the direction 

 of the association: 8.6, 8.5, 3.6, 7.6 per cent. 



The injury data following are taken from several inspections in 1908 

 of fruit of a large association in Avhich the growers have picked some of 

 the fruit. The rest of it has been picked bv the association: 4.0, 10.7, 

 10.0, 12.4, 9.0, 16.3, 16.5, 15.6, 16.5 per cent!' 



The injur}' data following are taken at random from inspections in 

 1908 of fruit of individuals and associations that apparently have made 

 no special effort to have the fruit picked carefully : 46.7, 28.1, 15.2, 59.0, 

 33!5, 84.7, 16.5 per cent. 



THE SHIPPING EXPERIMENTS. 



The results of the shipping tests of 1908 have borne out the results of 

 the previous years, except that the decay has been less in commercially 

 handled fruit, especially in washed oranges. This is due to the cleaner 

 condition of the washing tanks and water, and the quicker drying and 



