41 



the ship and they were in perfect condition. This proves that 

 Jamaica oranges can be sent over here all right, but it more espe- 

 cially proves that my arguments at the Conference were right when I 

 said, that however glui ted the market at this end might be with inferior 

 oranges, should Jamaica Oranges arrive here in sound condition they 

 would always have a market to themselves — as although " 714" cases 

 of Spanish Oranges are a drug here at 7s., we have been able to 

 realize . . . for yours. I only wish that people out in Jamaica 

 could realize the amount of money that has been wilfully thrown 

 away this year through their own stupidity in insisting on bringing 

 forward a lot of worthless immature fruit which simply damned the 

 market for Jamaica Oranges. I suppose next year the same thing will 

 happen again." 



PACKING FRUIT IN FLORIDA. 



From, Professor H. Harold Hume, Department of Botany and Horti- 

 culture, to Director Public hardens, Jamaica. 



Florida Agricultural College and Experiment Station. 



Lake City, Fla., 

 Dec 27th, 1901. 



Dear Sir, 



Yours of recent date reached the Station while I was absent in South 

 Florida, hence the delay in answering the question .which you have 

 asked. 



There is i o law in force in our State governing the packing and 

 inspecti -n of fruit, and the onl\ thing I can do toward answering your 

 questions is to give the rules used by our best shippers. The orange 

 box used in the State usually known as the " Standard" orange box is 

 12 x 12 x 27 with a cross partition in the middle. The ends and the 

 partitions are each one inch thick, so you see the box is divided into 

 two comi artments each of exactly one cubic foot capacity. 



Two classes of fruit are made ; bright and russet. There is practi- 

 cally no difference in the quality of these two grades but the latter 

 grade has a russet colored rind, a condition brought about by the at- 

 tacks of the rust mite. In each of these classes two or three grades 

 are generally made which are usually designated as fancy bright, 

 choice bright, russet bright and russet choice respectively. Those 

 classed as fancy bright and russet bright should both be perfect fruit 

 in every respect. Bright and russet oranges should never be packed 

 together in the same box. The package should be uniformly neat 

 and the fruit should be well packed and graded. The usual sizes of 

 oranges in this State are the following : 96, 112, 126, 150, 176, 200, 

 216, 226 and 252. The diameters of these different sizes of fruit are 

 as follows: 112 equals 3 T 5 ¥ , 126=3*-, 150=3^, 176=2jf, 

 200 — 2 226 — 2 T 9 g approximately. 150 oranges to a box, 

 for instance, means that the oianges are of 150 sizes and that there 

 are exactly 150 oranges in a package. In packing fruit in the early 

 part of the season it is usually cured in the packing houses for two or, 



