April 1, 1902.] THE TROPICAL AGRIC [JLTITEIST. 
661 
Packing. — And now as to packing. This is done 
by girls, two of them putting up a box of 714 in 15 
minutes and a box of 420 in lu minutes. I must 
confess to being somewhat surprised when the car- 
penter came along to put on the lids ; he first tacked 
the three laths at one end, then, putting his knee 
on each lath in turn applied his whole weight so as 
to press the oranges firmly into the box. When the 
box of oranges is packed ready for the lid it appears 
to be much too full, the top layer being nearly half 
their thickness above the level of the box-edge. I 
questioned the propriety of applying so much force 
to bring them down. The explanation given that it 
did no damage, as it was absolutely necessary that 
allowance be made for shrinkage, that the fruit re- 
ceived equal pressure all through the box, and that 
while a bounce to an orange would injure it, no harm 
came by even, steady pressure, which had the result 
of simply flattening four surfaces, but was not sulfi- 
cieut to cause confusion of the internal portion of 
the orange ; unless by accident or careless packing 
one or two should be caught between the lid and the 
edge of the box. When the carpenter has finished 
nailing on the cover small boys come along with strips 
of raw hide and nail them around each end in place 
of hoops ; finally the box is handed over to men who 
dexterously and firmly bind each round and round 
with some ten or twelve yards of cord plaited from 
Esparto grass. The boxes are then carried to the 
Grao or beach where they are loaded on to surf boats 
and conveyed to the steamers lying at anchor in the 
roads some half a mile away. I am in possession of 
every detail regarding cost of materials, also length 
and breadth of the various boxes, time required for 
their construction, etc., which will be supplied on 
application. 
For Jamaica. — The foregoing is a brief synopsis of 
the methods adopted by packers in the plains of 
Castellon ; but there are other points in connection 
with the handling of fruit in Spain that must not be 
lost sight of, and I fear that unless we in Jamaica 
are prepared to follow in some measure these or 
similar methods in handling our fruit, we can never 
hope to make satisfactory shipments of oranges to 
England. For instance, when the season begins 
with us, we find scores of irresponsible people — in 
the country parts, at least — renting sheds and vacant 
houses, at the same time intimating their intentions 
of buying oranges from the surrounding districts ; the 
people commence to collect fruit, plucking it rough- 
ly from the trees, throwing it into heaps some three 
or four feet high, until a cart comes along, the sides 
have been raised by the addition of rough sticks tied 
together at the corners ; into this the oranges are 
thrown several feet deep and carted to the aforesaid 
packing sheds, where inexperienced women are em- 
ployed wrapping in rough straw paper, and packing ■ 
the oranges unsorted into barrels or boxes, rejecting 
only such fruit as gives unmistakeable evidence of 
being hopelessly damaged ; but such packers have no 
means of learning what treatment the fruit has re- 
ceived, not only in the fields and carts, but by the 
numerous small settlers who bring in their quota in 
rough hampers on mule or donkey backs for sale. 
When they arrive at the wharf the barrels are gener- 
ally emptied in the shipper's shed and again packed, 
but very much after the same unsystematic method. 
This would never be tolerated in such places as 
Burrianna, for in no instance will the packers 
accept or purchase fruit which has not] been picked 
by their employees. In the foregoing description I 
refer chiefly to what I have seen personally on the 
Northside of the Island. I acknowledge that in the 
neighbourhood of Kingston and Port Antonio* 
planters may have within the last year or two adopt- 
ed much more improved methods of putting up 
their fruit ; but even they, I feel sure, will be glad 
to take advantage of the suggestions of the Spanish 
packer, from knowledge acquired after many years 
in the trade. In every instance the farmer sells his 
crop on the tree, either by weight or by sight,— if 
by sight, all that may be blown down subsequently 
is included in the contract ; if by weight, only fruit 
picked direct from the tree is counted. In the for- 
mer case the price paid is less, but the risk of loss 
lies with the packer, and vice versa. The cost of 
the fruit in May was from $5 to $7 per thousand, 
but earlier in the season they could be purchased 
for $2-50 to 8o, an orange is an orange in Spain, and 
every one counts, not three for one as with us. I 
consider the fruit grown in the regions round Valen- 
cia to be very much inferior in every respect to the 
Jamaica product. It has a very thick rind, although 
it is said that this applies only to those of the so- 
called second flowering. Be this as it may, most 
of those that I saw v/ere coarse in appearance, the 
surface being rougher than even our Seville orange 
while the sweetness and juiciness can in no way 
compare, the seeds larger, much more core, and 
that very fibrous. The plains of Castellon have a 
perfect network of canals, a legacy of the magnificent 
engmeering of the Moors. Connected with every 
10 or 20 acres is an ancient water-wheel some 10 
to 12 feet in diameter, for raising the water to the 
level of the land for the purpose of irrigation. The 
horses or mules that turn the wheel are blind-folded 
so that they may be kept in ignorance of the where- 
about of the driver boy, and so that he dare not 
stop in his monotonous round until the work is 
done for fear of the whip, which may be a mile 
away. 
Ieeigation.— In discussing with packers the merits 
of the fruit of the various districts as to their 
carrying and keeping qualities, I was informed that 
excessive irrigation ruined the carrying qualities 
of the fruit ; that while a limited amount of water 
increased the rind so making the oranges somewhat 
together and less likely to be bruised in packing, 
we find that in the Bibara the best examples of the 
effect of water on the orange ; there are two classes 
of orchard there, one, the " huerto " or gardens 
mostly made up land in terraces, where the water 
let on moistens the soil, but does not remain pools 
for any length of time, quickly disappearing through 
the very porous condition of the land. The oranges 
produced thus are of a superior quality, and al- 
though the trees are planted some 20 feet apart, 
they yield a larger crop to the acre than those of 
the Plana, which are planted a little more 
than half that distance from each other. 
These oranges keep and carry well, while in the 
plains of the same district the " huertas" or fields 
are of a stiffer soil, the water lies longer and dis- 
appears slowly, producing a coarse orange which 
carries badly. Again, the increasing use of artificial 
manure is an important factor in the deterior- 
ation of the fruit in this direction as well as affect- 
ing the flavour, natural fertilizer being very much 
less so, but for reasons which the foregoing but 
partially explains, oranges from the high elevation 
keeps much better .than those from the plains. 
Within the last few years a niunber of bitter orange 
trees have been introduced from Seville, as experi- 
ence has proven that sweet oranges budded on to 
these possess excellent keeping qualities. This fact 
