CHAPTER XII. 



GATHERING AND PACKING. 



It is a proud and happy day to the orange grower when he 

 gathers in the first golden herald of the good time coming, and 

 thus receives the glad assurance that the reward of his years of 

 toil and patience are close at hand — that the night is past, and 

 the dawn of prosperity is near. 



It is not every one who knows how to gather and pack his 

 croj) so that it will reach its distant market in good order, and 

 yet this point is so important, that if not properly understood, it 

 matters not how full a crop the tree may yield, since the fruit , 

 will yield no profit, but rather loss, since freight must be paid, 

 whether the fruit will sell for enough to cover it or not. 



This matter of proper shipping is a rock on which many a^ 

 goodly barque, sailing out into the world with fair hopes and 

 prospects, becomes an utter wreck. 



And the worst of it is, that such shipwreck as this, at the 

 last moment, is caused almost invariably by culpable carelessness 

 on the part of the owner of the fruit, whether he does the work 

 of picking and packing with his own hands, or trusts it to hired 

 help, who have no interest in the well being of the crop or its 

 ultimate fate. 



As soon as the oranges begin to show by their yellow tinge 

 here and there that ripening has commenced, the trees should be 

 examined every two or three days, and all speckled or defective 

 fruit taken off, the ripest first. This serves two purposes : first, 

 such fruit is always the earliest to ripen, and if carefully handled 

 and shipped, it will pay well to send it forward while the market 

 is comparatively empty ; second, the removal of such defective 

 fruit, wdiich will only get worse if left on the tree, will benefit 

 the fruit remaining. 



Step-ladders are usually employed in gathering such oranges 

 94 



