6 BULLETIN 63, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
Plate II, figure 2 shows that the effort to make a field box strong enough to withstand 
"bucking" is not always successful. While it is difficult to estimate the amount of 
damage which may result from the use of such boxes, it is apparent that this is very 
great. 
An enumeration of some of the injuries received in picking will be found under 
the discussion of the causes of blue-mold decay. 
HAULING THE FRUIT. 
The fruit is hauled from the grove to the packing house on ordinary farm wagons, 
which are often springless, or on specially provided wagons belonging to an association. 
The owner of the grove or the manager of the packing house sometimes personally 
superintends this transfer, but frequently it is done by contract with the owner of a 
livery stable. There is usually a fixed price for this service, one large contractor 
receiving 2 cents per box per mile, which is about the average of what is paid in differ-, 
ent parts of the State. The drivers are often ignorant of the importance of careful 
handling, and their methods of loading and unloading are extremely crude and rough. 
It is not uncommon to see them sitting on boxes of fruit as they ride to the packing 
house. The haul may be long and over rough roads (PI. Ill, fig. 1), some packing 
houses handling many boxes of fruit from groves 12 or 15 miles distant, or even farther. 
Ox teams are often used for such long hauls (PI. Ill, fig. 2). It has even been the 
custom, in the past, to carry many oranges loose in the wagon box, the unloading 
being done with shovels or in other rough ways (PI. IV, fig. 1). This practice has 
been done away with, however, as it is recognized that good results can never be 
obtained by such careless methods. Along with the numerous improvements which 
have been effected during the past two or three years in the manner of hauling fruit 
from the grove to the packing house, must be reckoned the State-wide movement for 
better roads. 
PREPARING THE FRUIT FOR SHIPMENT. 
Buildings and machinery. — Packing houses are usually located in villages and towns 
along the railroad lines or in places accessible to water transportation. Many boxes 
of fruit, however, are packed either openly in the groves or in houses located near the 
farm buildings and are then hauled to a shipping point. Little attempt was made 
until recently to build houses especially designed for packing citrus fruit. The aver- 
age building usually had a capacity for handling not more than one car a day, very 
little machinery being used in the old houses and the boxes being made by hand, 
frequently in some place outside the packing house. This building generally con- 
sisted of but one room, the sizing machine being located in the center, a little below 
the main portion of the house, in what is called the "pit." One common source of 
trouble, even in the new-style houses, is the attempt to save floor space. The machin- 
ery may be so adjusted that the orange has to follow a long and complicated path, 
around abrupt angles, down gravity runs, and up unnecessary elevators, whereas 
in a majority of cases the same end could have been attained at less expense by means 
of a more simple arrangement. Simplicity should be the watchword in the adjustment 
of all packing-house equipment. Some houses have gone to the other extreme of 
doing practically all the work by hand, thus eliminating the expense of carrying belts 
and other automatic devices. The character of the workmen is then of fundamental 
importance, and it is doubtful whether, in the long run, hand work can be accomplished 
with as little injury as results from the use of properly adjusted, simple machinery. 
Fruit which was clean and did not require washing was formerly poured into a hop- 
per and rolled by gravity in front of the grader to the sizing machine. The latter 
was sometimes run by power, but more often it was treadled by the man who did the 
grading. As the oranges were sized they fell into different bins and from these were 
