6i 



Four or five years ago the losses due to the decay of oranges 

 in transit from CaHfornia had reached such an enormous amount 

 that it became alarming. The loss was variously estimated at 

 from seven himdred and fifty thousand dollars to one million five 

 hundred thousand dollars. The Bureau of Plant Industry of the 

 Department of Agriculture undertook an investigation of the cause 

 of this decay and the remedies. To make a long story, with manv 

 details, short, the chief cause of the whole trouble lay in the me- 

 chanical injuries which the fruit received while being handled be- 

 tween the time it was taken from the tree and the time when it was 

 packed ready for shipment. 



Fig. 6. Showing expanse of roots U5 feet one side and i8 feet the 

 other side) of tree set deep in 1897. Tree 13 years old when dug. 



The solution of the problem has been largely a thorough re- 

 organization of methods of handling with a view to reducing to a 

 minimum the mechanical injuries to the fruit. ^ly reference to 

 this matter is made because it touches upon one of the fimda- 

 mentals of success. The careful handling of all fruit not intended 

 for immediate consumption is a ''permanent issue" among fruit 

 growers and others who may be concerned. A fruit is a living 

 organism. It breathes ; it gives ofl: carbon dioxide ; it lives and dies 

 and then decays. Any sort of treatment which in any Avay de- 

 stroys or injures the cells of which a fruit is composed hastens its 

 death and, by so much, induces decav. 



In some cases it has been demonstrated that the mere dropping 

 of an orange no more than twenty inches onto a hard floor results 

 in a very material increase in decay in comparison with other fruit 

 handled in identically the same way save for the dropping. 



