SHIPMENT OF ORANGES FROM FLORIDA. 
PICKING THE FRUIT. 
Harvesting methods. — In harvesting the orange, it is necessary to sever the fruit from 
the trees by means of clippers or shears, the common type being a sharp-pointed 
clipper, such as is illustrated on the left in figure 2. Various other types are also in 
use at the present time, two of which are shown in figure 2. 
Since many of the orange trees in Florida are large, only a small proportion of the 
fruit can be reached from the ground. The ordinary straight ladder, placed directly 
against the tree, is in common use. In order to secure all of the fruit at the top or in 
the center of the tree, the picker must stretch over a considerable distance, and he is 
very liable to pull many of the oranges which he can not conveniently sever with his 
clippers. Worse than this, however, it has not been uncommon to see the fruit on 
the ends of the limbs shaken off and allowed to drop to the ground, later to be picked 
up and placed in the field boxes along with the fruit properly handled. 
Over the picker's shoulder is thrown a basket or bag in which the fruit is placed as 
clipped. The picking bag is sometimes an ordinary grain bag or gunny sack holding 
about 30 pounds of fruit; formerly, some men used a specially constructed bag which 
fastened around the body and frequently held nearly enough fruit to fill one of the 
boxes. The canvas-covered basket shown in Plate I, figure 1, holds approximately 
half of a box of fruit. Another type of picking receptacle, illustrated in Plate I, 
figure 2, has a hinged bot- 
tom which may be let down 
when emptying the fruit. 
The most common bag now 
in use is one made of heavy 
canvas and open at the bot- 
tom, so that the filled bag 
can be placed in the box 
and the fruit allowed to roll 
out gently. 
Field boxes. — The fruit is 
poured from the picking re- 
ceptacle into a field crate 
or box. The box in gen- 
eral use is about 28 inches 
long, 12 inches wide, and 
13 J inches deep, has a capacity of a little more than one packed box of fruit, and may 
or may not have a central partition. Both types are illustrated in Plate I, figures 1 and 
2. The size of this box was established through the practice of buying large quantities 
of fruit on the tree at a fixed price per box. Originally this price was intended to be 
per "packed box, "but since it is more convenient to keep the record of the fruit as it 
leaves the grove, this type of field box, which holds enough fruit to allow culling and 
still give the buyer a packed box of oranges, was developed. Other kinds of field boxes, 
some of which are superior to the old box, are in use to a limited extent. Plate II, 
figure 1, shows a type of grocer's delivery crate which some growers use for handling 
their- oranges. 
The boxes in common use are constructed of such heavy material and hold such large 
quantities of fruit that it is impossible to handle them with sufficient care. 'When 
loading them on the field wagon or unloading them at the packing house, or even 
when moving them about in the house, they oftentimes strike the floor with sufficient 
force to cause some of the fruit to bound out. The objection commonly raised to 
making boxes of lighter material is that the workmen will break them by rough han- 
dling, especially when throwing them off the wagon in the field. It is a question, 
however, whether the average laborer will not treat a lighter box more carefully than 
Jie will a heavy iron-bound one, which tempts him to see how roughly he can handle it. 
Fig. 2. — Three types of clippers used in picking Florida citrus fruits. 
