12 BULLETIN 63, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
Several large selling agencies are now operating in Florida and are handling much 
of the citrus fruit. These firms may or may not be directly concerned with the grading 
and packing of the fruit. Although in a few instances they control this portion of the 
work almost entirely, and so are able to offer for sale large quantities of fruit of a rather 
uniform grade, their primary aim is to handle for the packers all matters pertaining to 
the sale of the crop. They claim to be able to keep a closer watch on the markets 
and on general trade conditions than an individual grower or packer can possibly do, 
and, by means of competent sales agents throughout the country, to be able to control 
the distribution of the product so as to avoid gluts and the resultant low prices. Their 
selling charge may be a flat rate per box, but more often the business is conducted on a 
percentage basis. 
Florida Citrus Exchange. — The movement for cooperative marketing, begun during 
the season of 1909-10, gained considerable headway among the citrus fruit growers 
of the State and resulted in the formation of the Florida Citrus Exchange. The 
organization was modeled after the California Fruit Growers' Exchange, which has 
been successfully packing and marketing a large percentage of the citrus fruits of 
California for a number of years. During its first season (1909-10) the Florida Citrus 
Exchange handled more than 1,000,000 boxes of fruit. 
The Florida Citrus Exchange is composed of a number of cooperative associations 
throughout the State. These are made up of individual growers who form a corpora- 
tion, build a packing house, elect a manager, determine the grades under which 
their fruit is to be shipped, and attend to all the business directly connected with the 
harvesting, packing, and shipping of the fruit. The cooperative packing houses 
located in any one of the several citrus districts of the State unite to form a subex- 
change, whose manager has charge of the larger business interests of the houses in his 
district, keeping in close touch with the central offices of the exchange, and advising 
with them regarding the qualities and grades of fruit in the various cars shipped, the 
methods of packing employed, and all other matters regarding which a selling agency 
should be well informed. A union of the various subexchanges forms the Florida 
Citrus Exchange, which has its headquarters at Tampa, This is an incorporated body, 
with a board of directors and officers for carrying on the business of marketing the 
product. Representatives of the exchange, who are paid on a salary basis, are located 
in the various trade centers and have charge of the sale of the fruit. 
The fruit of the individual grower may be handled in the packing house as a sepa- 
rate account; or it may be packed under certain grades, a record being kept of the 
number of boxes of each grade made from the fruit of that grower, whose identity is 
lost as soon as this amount has been recorded. When the latter plan is followed, the 
season is generally divided into periods of several weeks in length, called pools, the 
receipts for all fruit shipped during each period being averaged by grades. The 
individual grower receives a pro rata share of the proceeds, determined by the quantity 
of each grade of fruit which he has delivered at the packing house during that pool. 
In a few packing houses one pooling period extends over the whole season, and the 
only average made is based upon the proceeds of the entire crop. 
KEEPING QUALITY OF FLORIDA ORANGES. 
The keeping quality of the orange is naturally good. Since the life processes of 
the fruit continue after it has been severed from the branch, there is a prolonged 
period during which an uninjured orange remains sound and free from all decay. 
Ultimately, when the life span has been run, the tissues die and decay follows even 
in uninjured fruits. The delay is long enough, however, to allow the average fruit to 
be packed and placed on the market and to reach the consumer in sound condition. 
